A Barking and Dagenham College student’s space-themed cake has been ‘highly commended’ in a major competition.

Amy Penfold, 18, from Hornchurch, is studying patisserie and confectionary at the college which has campuses in Barking and Romford.

Amy took on the challenge of entering her first competition at Cake International touted as the world’s biggest cake decoration and sugarcraft show, which takes place at London’s ExCeL.

She received ‘highly commended’ for her space-themed cake coming third overall in the 16-18 category.

Amy said: “Learning a trade like baking takes a lot of time, patience and hard work. I received lots of great feedback about my cakes and I’m very pleased with my results in my first ever competition.”

Baking is Amy’s passion, having started when she was just 10 years old.

Making everything from cakes, cupcakes, meringues and biscuits, Amy has practised hard to hone her skills.

In fact she loves baking so much, she even set up her own business called Vanilla Cakes UK last year offering tasty treats for any occasion.