By Nayha Tandon

The winner of Purple Heart’s September baking competition was announced this week via the shop’s Facebook page.

Claudia Fisher, the owner of Purple Heart in Gardener Street, Brighton, and her fellow staff chose Mirtha Alvarez Urbay's Mad Hatter's Hat cake as the winner.

Ms Fisher, said: "We loved this cake because, although Alice in Wonderland cakes are very common, hats are not so common."

"It has a real sense of humour and great attention to detail."

"We really liked the teacup on the top and the way the cake tilts to one side, overall it is pleasing all round."

The monthly competition is open to anyone with a passion for baking, whether they are from Brighton or not.

Those who enter, send photos to the Purple Heart team via Facebook and they mark the cakes using a scoring system.

Ms Fisher, said: "All purple heart staff score each cake out of 10 for originality, skill, effect and finish."

"This one scored 268 out of a possible 320, the second prize went to a cake with 267 points, so it was very close."

The winner receives Purple Heart vouchers to spend in the shop.

With a recent growth in popularity of baking in general, Purple Heart experienced an increase in the sales of baking equipment, and this is where the idea of the competition stemmed from.