Television shows like the Cake Boss in the United States and the Great British Bake Off  in the UK are programs highly anticipated by millions of viewers worldwide .

These shows may have boosted the value of the bakery and pastry industry, estimated by the Global Industry Analysts to exceed $310 billion by 2015.

Welcoming the growth,  the Cake and Bake Show was held for the first time on 22-23 September at the Earls Court Building in London.

More than 100 stands reserved by organizations, small, medium and large companies with businesses in cakes, breads and the art of baking were on location.

Professionals, foodies, bloggers, children and their parents, students, housewives and cake enthusiasts came from all over England and many countries to take part in this colorful show

 Consumers who wished to buy and learn and merchants offering materials and services, appliances, books and magazines gathered under one roof so that all visitors could have a convenient one stop shopping.

The Cake and Bake Show prearranged demos by famous British chefs, organized pastry workshops for all ages, held a cake decorating competition, and allocated special areas for bakery and chocolate, baking equipment sales and food markets.

Visitors must have tickets to enter the show. Unfortunately almost all tickets were almost sold out weeks before.  Our volunteers had to go back and forth to the venue to try to get tickets. They finally secured special tickets for entry on Saturday 22 September from 5 pm to 9 pm.

With tickets worth $20 per day or $30 for 2 days visitors received goody bags, an opportunity to  taste the cookies and cakes from many merchants and watched  cake decorating demos. Extra costs were required to attend special classes such as sugarcraft.  Peggy Porchen who owns a sugarcraft business and had a stand at this event had received orders from Elton John and Stella McCartney.

A total of 12 well-known authors of cake and bake books met their fans for book signing, including  Eric Lanlard author of Tart it Up and Juliet Sear author of The Cake Decorating Bible.

Among the celebrities spotted at the show were the judges of the Great British Bakeoff:  Mary Berry a television host who has written 70 books on cooking and decorating cakes and Paul Hollywood, a renowned artisan baker.

Over 21,000 people attende the 2 days show. The Cake and Bake Show 2012 not only satisfied clients and helped merchants increase their sales, but also contributed to a Macmillan cancer support and other social activities.

Some of the media partners for this popular event were Delicious magazine, Cake & Sugarcraft, Wedding Cakes, and Bake.

The next Cake and Bake Show is scheduled for 5 - 7 April 2013 in Manchester, to be followed by another show in London in September 2013.

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Images: Maira Niode