CUPCAKE supremo Karen Attwood has been shortlisted in a coveted national competition. Karen, of Beeston, set up Classy Cupcakes last year and since then has baked 18,000 for customers.

The White Folie cake, part of her new Posh Patisserie range, puts her in the running to be crowned National Cupcake Champion 2011.

Fifty craft bakeries, independent cake emporiums and high street names will battle it out across six categories in the third annual competition.

The gala judging and awards ceremony takes place on August 15 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

Last year the Post reported how Karen had quit a well-paid senior management post at the University of Nottingham to live the cupcake dream.

Since then she has never stopped baking.

The boom in cupcake producers, however, means that bakers have had to up their game, said Karen, who conceived the Posh Patisserie cakes during her pastry chef studies at college using classic French techniques, refined flavours and beautiful presentation.

Karen, who is the competition's only contender from Notts, said: "This is the new generation of cupcake. They all have intense flavours and a surprise in them.

"It's very exciting. Everyone who is anyone in cupcake land will be there."

The expert judging panel includes Hummingbird owner Tarek Malouf and Peggy Porschen, who is hailed one of the world's top cake artists.

The White Folie, a vanilla cake with a fancy white chocolate casing, is one of nine in the range which also includes Lascivious Lemon which oozes with real lemons and curd and Strawberry Rose, a vanilla cake with conserve and sparkly pinks.

Karen also specialises in bespoke cakes for weddings, birthdays and other special occasions.

In recent months she has supplied sweet treats for a brigadier's high tea, a naming ceremony and a High School garden party.

Some orders come with unusual requests, like the daughter of a pensioner celebrating her 70th birthday, who asked Karen to create cakes with her mum's different hairstyles from seven decades including kiss curls, pigtails and a beehive.

British Baker deputy editor Andrew Williams said: "This year we've seen a notable shift away from some of the overly sweet entries of the past – a response no doubt to the changing consumers' palate and a shift away from the American style of cupcake that has dominated in recent years.

"Bakers have had to raise their game and really innovate with flavour combinations – using tricks and skilled techniques that are hard to replicate at home – to make sure people keep buying cupcakes."

The competition is the first milestone in the run-up to National Cupcake Week, which takes place from September 12 to 18.

For more information about Classy Cupcakes go to www.classy-cupcakes.co.uk.