WHEN I was asked to make a cake for Bake Off judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, my initial reaction was giddy excitement.

Which quickly turned to terror. And then panic.

I love baking, I'm a massive fan of the show, but I know my limitations. There are L plates on my apron. I'm nowhere near the standard of the contestants who whip, fold and pipe in that pressure cooker of a tent.

But, as a member of the Evening Times cake club I was determined to rise to the challenge.

With little time to plan I decided to keep it simple. Spiced carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. A recipe plucked from the internet (bbcgoodfood.com) had worked out perfectly first time. But would it go as well second time?

Rather than hungry colleagues, I'm now trying to impress the country's top cake critics.

Would Paul sniff out that I'd substituted wholemeal self-raising flour for plain, with an added teaspoon of baking powder?

Would they recoil in horror at my not-so-fabulous frosting?

As it turned out, Mary was delightful when I 'cake-bombed' her yesterday at the BBC Good Food Show at the SECC where she and co-presenter Paul, were mobbed by hundreds of the show's enthusiastic fans.

She said my cupcakes "looked lovely" and they were swiftly taken backstage by Mr Hollywood's minder, with the promise that one of the pair would brave a bite.

As yet, to the best of my knowledge, they both survived...