Local bakers from Hammersmith and Fulham entered a hotly contested bake-off over the weekend at Livat Hammersmith to celebrate the summer solstice or Midsommar as it is known in Sweden. Judged by Great British Bake Off star Holly Bell, runner up in the second series, contestants battled to create their best strawberry cake, a staple for Midsommar celebrations in Sweden.

After judging, Eleanor Sturt from Hammersmith was crowned winner of the Bake off, winning £100 worth of vouchers to spend at Livat Hammersmith as well as £100 worth of IKEA baking products! Her strawberry cake, with a personal twist, included strawberries and raspberries, drawing the Bake Off star’s attention.

The competition was part of Livat Hammersmith’s Midsommar celebrations on 25th and 26th June where, alongside the bake-off, the meeting place hosted a range of events within the meeting place including a traditional Swedish maypole, craft stations, face painters and live music. Just as in the UK, Midsummer is a traditional festival across Sweden, with the summer solstice marked with dancing, feasting and festivities.

Natalia Petalina, Meeting Place Manager at Livat Hammersmith commented: “Midsommar has always been an exciting moment for our meeting places, and it was fun to match our traditional Swedish festivities with the best of British celebrations – and of course it doesn’t get much more British than Bake Off! It was so exciting to see the local community get involved and it was an honour to have Holly Bell involved in the judging. Huge congratulations to Eleanor, whose cake was absolutely delicious!”

Livat Hammersmith first opened at the beginning of this year, bringing a little taste of Sweden to Hammersmith. Now, having been open for over three months, the new meeting place has found its place in the local community and the wider retail space. Recent openings include Atelier 100 – a collaboration between Ingka Group and H&M of a unique retail incubator programme for hyper-local designs and products from within 100km of the meeting place – and the Library of Things – a community-powered social enterprise helps people save money and reduce waste by affordably renting out useful items like drills, sound systems and sewing machines.

To learn more about Livat Hammersmith’s Midsommar Event, visit https://www.livat.com/en/hammersmith/events/midsommar-fest.