Geobaking

So I have decided it's finally time to post some cakes on here, ie. I finally made some (decent?) cakes. My friend Becky spotted a geology baking competition online and, as we are both avid geologists, we decided to give it go. Having checked out other entrants we though:  how hard can it be? Turns out we were very wrong... Still some of the baking turned out well and the decorations are a masterpiece if you squint!

First up we have assorted fossils made of puff pastry. Easiest thing to make: ready-roll puff pastry sheets and chocolate spread then roll up/cut, oven bake. Simple, tasty and actually resembling fossils (ish)!

Ammonites (more like gastropods if you're being picky!), bivalves and brachiopods

Next onto the cakes. Rather than one big cake like some of the other entrants we decided on cupcakes individually decorating in geological themes. We made basic cupcakes and buttercream for the top then pooled our very large collections of cake decorations and brainstormed like mad! It turns out geological diagrams on cupcakes aren't the easiest thing to draw, especially in chocolate writing icing but they tasted good and the rest of the geologists in the department loved them! I'm thinking we should bonus marks in the exams later this term for the accuracy of some of these cakes...

From top (L-R): Volcano cross-section, subduction zone, olivine/plagioclase thin section (in crossed polars)
Middle: Schematic bony fish, echinoid fossil
Bottom: Schematic tetrapod, ammonite, sedimentary bedding

Here's the link to the other competitors:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23geobakeoff&src=typd