Geoscientist Online

Sarah Day reports on the most successful geology-based baking competition in the entire history of the world, like, ever

Back in April, we set readers of the Geological Society’s blog a challenge.  With Easter around the corner, how many geologically themed cakes could they bake in a four-week period?

Challenges ranged from a simple sandstone layer cake for 10 points, to classic formations such as Durdle Door and Giant’s Causeway, to the 100-point challenge – to recreate the Velociraptor-hatching scene from Jurassic Park in edible form.

Thus the geobakeoff phenomenon was born, and almost 100 entries came pouring in via facebook, twitter and email (disappointingly, none by parcel post).  Incredibly, every challenge was met – including the hatching Velociraptor – plus a few extra ones created along the way.

Thank you to everyone who baked, shared the #geobakeoff hashtag, and to those who send in pictures of their own geological cakes – we had no idea there were so many geobaking possibilities.  Congratulations to our 10 winners, who are all the proud recipients of one of our coveted, near-mythical rock hammer USB sticks, and a lovingly designed wooden spoon trophy.

Stay tuned for future Geobakeoff challenges!

And the 10 winners were, in reverse order:

• Hannah Moss Davies (@hannah_MD24), Rachel J (@rachisaurus) - 100 points

• Leanne Roden (@leanneroden90), Dheyna (@dheyna_x), Catherine Kenny – 130 points

• Rehemat Bhatia (@livelovesurf24) – 140 points

• GeoBus (@Geobus_StA) – 160 points

• Gwenno Talfryn – 310 points

• Carrie Soderman (@carriesoderman) – 360 points

• Liz Laycock (@longrat) – 580 points