TV CHEF Dean Edwards was the star attraction at this year’s food fair and Big Bucks Bake Off hosted by Eden Shopping Centre at the weekend.

The chef, who was the second place winner of BBC’s ‘Masterchef Goes Large’ in 2006 and is a firm favourite on ITV’s ‘Lorraine’ and ‘This Morning’ as well as regularly contributing to ‘Fabulous Magazines’ recipe page, cooked up a storm in front of the crowds as the popular annual foodie festival returned on Saturday.

The packed shopping centre was transformed into a bustling food market, with free food on offer from Wenzel’s the bakery, Nando’s, Wagamama and Bill’s restaurant.

As well as performing live cookery demos on stage in the High Wycombe shopping centre, Dean was also head judge at this year’s Big Bucks Bake-Off, which saw a staggering 19 amateur bakers put forward their own impressive creations.

The standard was incredibly high this year, with bakers pulling out all the stops to impress the judging panel.

A refreshing lemon and elderflower cake was baked by entrant Liz Stanley and an unusual cake filled with a layers of baklava, created by Becky Viera, delighted the judges.

A quirky savoury cake made an entrance for the first time, with a bacon and maple syrup concoction whipped up by Rachel Jones.

And Alexandra Foster baked up a luxurious chocolate and raspberry drip cake topped with pistachio truffles and fresh fruit.

But the three cakes that impressed the judges the most were Rebecca Sadler’s coconut and pineapple triple layered cake – which picked up third place - Rayne Hillcoat-Williams’ candied carrot cake in second and Zubie Dilber’s ‘coffee, pecan and chocolate in heaven’ cake, which took the top spot.

Before presenting the awards to the winners, Dean told the audience how choosing the winner was difficult because of the high standard of the entries.

He said: “I want to say a huge congratulations to everyone who took part this year – the standard of the cakes just blew me away. There are definitely some future Bake Off contestants here.

“There were some amazing flavour combinations and the look of some of the cakes were incredible.”

He complimented Rebecca’s fruity layered cake’s “incredible” design, adding that it was “beautifully baked”, before she was gifted her third place trophy.

Before presenting Rayne’s second place prize, Dean said: “Carrot cake is a classic but the flavour of this one was incredible and the technical ability was great”.

And as an emotional Zubie was rewarded for her indulgent coffee, pecan and chocolate cake, Dean said: “Traditionally, this would not have been a flavour combination I would have gone for, but this one stood out to me.

“Technically, it was bang on. It looked great but what clinched it was the flavour.”

Slices of all 19 shortlisted cakes were sold on the day in aid of charity, with this year’s worthy cause being Child Bereavement UK.