Enjoy your own slice of history

Could you make Chatham Historic Dockyard’s 400th birthday cake? The home to all things nautical is marking the milestone with a bake off contest and is urging people to sign up to take part in the contest to make the dockyard’s official birthday cake. The theme will be your memory of the dockyard, and judging will be carried out by the chief executive, Bill Ferris, who himself started out as a baker, and Frances Quinn, the winner of the Great British BakeOff series four.

Bake off day at the dockyard will be on Sunday, July 15 when the Commissioner’s House marquee will be decked out to display the cakes. In the garden, the winners will be announced and the Polka Dot Dolls - regulars at the Salute to the 40s event - will be performing. Bakers have until Monday, July 2 to sign up to enter online and for a small fee they and a friend have access to the dockyard for the bake off day too.

Cakes will be judged on the categories of taste, appearance, most unusual ingredients and an overall winner. Winners will be awarded prizes later in the day. Entrance costs £10 for the baker and a plus one. Cakes must be no bigger than 30-45cm wide but can be as tall as you like.

Cakes can be dropped off at the Commissioner’s House between 11am and 12.30pm ready for the closed judging. Entrants need to provide information with their cake about the design, ingredients and memory, as well as your name.

The judging process will be a closed judging session but people that have entered the competition will have the opportunity to meet the judges afterwards. Get your apron at the ready and start baking – sign up to take part at thedockyard.co.uk