Young chefs show off their culinary skills in a bake-off

Allie Mickleson, 10, and Laquarn Courtney, 11, whipping up a storm at the Coast Kids school holiday programme in Greerton. Photo/Ruth Keber

Allie Mickleson reckons she could be the next MasterChef.

The Tauranga 10-year-old was one of about 200 Western Bay children taking part in one of the many school holiday programmes on offer around the region.

Children taking part in the Coast Kids programme got to show off their culinary skills yesterday in a MasterChef-style bake-off. The participants had three separate challenges of baking Easter muffins, fantastic-lolly cake and bunny meringues. The final products were judged on taste and presentation.

When the Bay of Plenty Times visited the competition Allie said she had been whipping up a storm making vanilla cup cakes.

"Initially they didn't taste right so we added more sugar into the batter," she said.

Allie said she and her team-mates had used flower-shaped trays for the treats to make them a little bit different from the other teams' efforts. "We also added edible hearts and glitter into the icing."

Allie said she loved taking part in the school holiday programmes at Coast Kids.

Coast Kids manager Carla Blockley said there were about 200 children a day enrolled in the Easter programme. Activities during the next two weeks would include a photo rally, a scavenger hunt, jet skis and stand-up paddle boards.