The Great Roman Bake Off

Cambridge University’s Classics Department recently introduced a competition called The Great Roman Bake Off. Entrants were challenged to research and create a Roman or Roman-inspired dish. They had to film a video which showed the process of making their dish – being as specific as possible so it could be recreated – as well as the finished product. Three Year 7 students from St Mary’s entered, with recipes that showed creative flair and in-depth research.

Hannah G. and Elea L. made a bread-like cheesecake called 'libum' which the Romans used as an offering to the gods. They explained their choice of dish, and their experience competing:

"We chose to do libum as our dish because it had some interesting facts about the dish, including how it was used as a ritual offering to the gods. We enjoyed editing the video and researching different dishes to find out about when it was eaten and for which occasions. It was very fun to make and put the video together."

Their video was well-researched and informative and they showed excellent teamwork in making their libum, which they report was delicious! You can view their video below.

Alexandra R. made a cake decorated with biscuits inspired by a mosaic of a ship that she had seen on a trip to Ostia. Alexandra was awarded a prize for Best Presentation, with the judges praising both the beautiful finished result and the fact that she had flavoured her cake with cinnamon. Alexandra explains,

"I really enjoyed the challenge of baking using different ingredients from different cultures. I chose to include cinnamon, as the mosaic on my cake was of a ship and cinnamon would have been one of the spices it carried." 

Congratulations to all our ancient Roman bakers! 

Find out more about Latin in the Senior School here.