Lets find a Cafe (or tearoom)

Lets find a Cafe (or tearoom)

Locations of reviewed cafes

For more information on the Cafes I have visited and the latest cafe cycle news go to http://www.cake-crusader.co.uk/

Cake Crusader Book

There is now a Cake Crusader book available where you can follow my journey from humble local trips to world record attempts and near-death experiences. How did a simple method of keeping track of decent cycling café pit stops turn my life upside down? Track my adventures into Europe, up mountains and right across Great Britain as I become a 'rising star' on social media. Will I prove my critics wrong? Should cheese scones be served hot or cold? Do I really have nothing better to do with his time? A must read for lovers of cycling and cake or anyone wanting to make it big in the virtual world

Available on Amazon


Sunday 22 December 2019

Fruit Scone of the year Finals.

Fruit Scone Of The Year Final

Once again I have been in search of a thing of the year with this years thing being the fruit scone. I have sampled over 40 fruit scones from tea rooms and cafes that I have visited on my bike in order to find the best ones. Normally the top 8 make it through to finals day and I go and collect the finalists on a series of bike rides the week before. Sadly this year the weather has been so bad that it hasn't been possible to do this. The best I could manage was to collect 5 of the best in my car on Friday plus one more on Saturdays finals day ride.

The day started with a reasonable turn out of seven guest judges who would be coming on a short bike ride to the Orangery Tea Room before returning to Crusader Towers for the scone off. We were very lucky to have occasional cyclist Gwyn in our midst as she is a self proclaimed fruit scone expert so would be able to offer an extra dimension to the judging. 
Guest judges ready for pre scone off warm up ride
The ride itself proved uneventful, except for a few flooded roads to cope with.
One of several flooded roads on the route
So we were able to collect our final scone while I gave the judges their final briefing and we enjoyed some excellent cake at the Orangery tea room.
Judging panel having pre final briefing over tea and cake
With ride complete and scones safely in the bag it was back to the tasting room at Crusader Towers for the action to begin.

Despite being two scones down from the eight qualifiers there was still a quality field so we could expect some high calibre scone action. After consulting the thing off rule book a slightly different approach was required with two scones getting a bye in the first round. These were The Earsham Hall and Aldis Farm Shop Cafe ones as they were the highest ranking scones from the qualify.
Scones warming up before the action got underway
The draw for the first round was made and Old Hall Farm would be at home against the Orangery scone.
The draw for the first round being made
The scones were divided up and it was clear that the Orangery scone had a tension issue and crumbled badly when cut but it was still a tight battle. On first taste it looked like an easy win for the Orangery but the old Hall farm scone had a very pleasant aftertaste and came through in the end winning 4 votes to 3.
Voting taking place for a losing scone
The second match saw the Pennoyer centre play The Angel cake cafe. Self proclaimed fruit scone expert Gwyn gave some interesting insite saying one of the scones was a bit too floury for her and she was proved right as the less floury Pennoyer centre just held on to win 4 votes to 3.
Self proclaimed fruit scone expert Gwyn (Top right) gave a number of fascinating scone insights during the event.
At this point we lost Big George from the judging panel as he had to collect a new rabbit to start to be bonded with his existing one. You may remember a previous post 'Rabbit News' where Big George explained all about rabbit bonding which you can relive it here.

We now entered the semi final stage with our two seeded teams entering the draw. Incidentally for fruit scone off fact fans then a choice of butter or a vegetable based spread was provided for judges to put on their scone, but no jam!

First Earsham Hall played Old Hall Farm who couldn't come from behind twice and was soundly beaten 5-1.
First semi final line up
The other semi final was close but again the seeded team came through 4-2 with Aldis Farm Shop Cafe slightly sweeter scone winning out.

It was now time for the final but Mrs Crusader was in a sulk as she had voted for the losing scone in every round so refused to take any further part as apparently it was a waste of time.

With the tension mounting the two finalist were divide up and tasting got underway. 
The finalists divide up ready for the last tasting of the day
It was soon clear that there would be a winner as the Aldis Farm Shop Cafe scone won comfortably by 4 votes to 1 to be crowned Fruit Scone of The Year. I look forward to breaking the news to them.

It had been a great scone off although maybe it had been a mistake to have a big slice of cake at the Orangery first as most of the judges felt they didn't want to have another fruit scone in the foreseeable feature.

Fortunately they won't have to as next year the thing of the year will be heading in a new direction as I will going in search of Egg on Toast of the Year. The rules are currently being decided on so watch this space.

6 comments:

  1. A fantastic read, as always. The big question for 2020 is: will scrambled egg on toast be permitted, or only fried egg on toast. Oh, wait, what about poached eggs?

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  2. Worth pointing out that Little Pigs has for at least a couple of years been known as Aldis & Son Farm Shop & Cafe. Little Pigs was a 3rd party caterer using the Farm Shop facility. Aldis took it in house, prompting a big improvement in standards. Might ensure the hoards setting off there, following this award, to get to the right location

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  3. I did worry for you all when you mentioned the cake during the cycle ride! As ever loved the news flash and the crowned FRUIT scone. Now when will cheese scones be targeted- some of us lack a wet tooth (well except when it’s carrot cake of course...)

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  4. Oh dear that’s a sweet tooth!

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    1. Thanks. Not sure when I will do cheese scones again as they were my first thing of the year back in 2015 (see https://norfolkcafecycle.blogspot.com/2015/12/cheese-scone-of-year-2015-winner.html) but it maybe time to check them out again soon.

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