Staff at Manchester Museum at the Comic Relief afternoon tea
This photo shows some of my colleagues tucking into cakes and assorted pastries at the afternoon tea in aid of Comic Relief and Red Nose Day. We made cakes and biscuits inspired by archaeology, archaeological sites and the collections more generally. My own humble offering was inspired by the Manchester wordsquare with its inscription ROTAS OPERA TENET AREPO SATOR.
Wordsquare shortbread biscuits
The shortbread biscuits with piped chocolate icing lettering were well and truly knocked into a cocked hat by the ancient Egyptian hippo cake modelled on a predynastic pot in the Museum collection.
Hippo cake
But pride of place has to go to a cake that sadly suffered a mishap en route. Kate’s display case cake was a spectacular creation. So good was it that when I saw it later I actually photographed the pile of the broken pieces of the gingerbread sides of the cake in the mistaken impression that it was the cake itself! The rostrum of the saw-fish was inspired.
Kate’s ill-fated display case cake before the accident
Gingerbread shabtis were also popular.
Gingerbread shabtis (bottom left) and intact hippo chocolate cake
Abby emailed later to say that we’d made an incredible £114.04 for Comic Relief!
Ancient Worlds 