Forty years old this year, top UK cookery school Leiths is inviting baking enthusiasts to prove their cake-baking skills by creating a masterpiece for their birthday celebrations. Judged by John Whaite, 'Great British Bake Off' Winner and food writer, and Caroline Waldegrave Founding Principal and previously co owner and MD of the School, ambitious bakers will have the chance to win enviable prizes.

The winning cake will feature on the front cover of their Autumn/Winter 2016 course brochure, blog and social media pages and the lucky winner will receive a place on a Leiths cake class, a set of Leiths How to Cook Cakes, Bread, Pastry and Desserts cookbooks and a gorgeous Magimix 5200XL Food Processor in Cream!

“This is a great opportunity to bake a celebratory cake for the great institution that is Leiths. I'll be looking for a show-stopper cake that not only looks good but tastes fantastic," says John Whaite.

Caroline adds: “I will be looking at the appearance, taste and texture of all the cakes as well as noting the skills and techniques shown while baking the cakes; this is a key part of the teaching and marking methods at Leiths. I'm looking forward to seeing all the wonderful creations take shape at Leiths.”

For a chance to win, entrants are invited to create the most beautiful baked cake they can and then send a picture of it and the recipe to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., along with their name and telephone number. Alternatively, they can tweet their picture to @leithscooking, making sure to include the hashtag #leithsbakeoff.

Leiths will be creating a shortlist of the top 20 entries to be whittled down to 6 by the public. The 6 shortlisted bakers will be invited to Leiths on Saturday 19 March 2016 to bake their cake for the esteemed judges.

The closing date for receiving entries is Sunday 10 January. Bakers can enter as many times as they like, so get baking!