Vanilla Slice Triumph

Australias Best Vanilla Slice

PERSISTENCE has paid off for Ballarat’s Golden Nugget Bakery, which took out the title for the best professional vanilla slice at the Merbein Great Australian Vanilla Slice Triumph on Saturday.

Baker and owner Colin Matthews has been tweaking his recipe for the better part of 10 years all in the name of claiming the prestigious title.

They had come close before, placing second last year, but Saturday was the icing on the cake.

“We’ve been entering on and off for the past 10 years,” co-owner Alicia Matthews said.

“We’ve been chasing it for a while, it’s a highly regarded award in the baking industry that we’ve really been wanting.”

Ms Matthews said they were thrilled and a little shocked to take out the title.

“We were so excited that when we had to sign some paperwork we could barely hold the pen properly,” she said.

“When we didn’t get third and we didn’t get second we thought one of the others had definitely won, so we were shocked.”

But even more excited were their three children exclaiming that “Daddy has finally won!”.

Ms Matthews said the secret to their slice was freshness and good-quality ingredients.