Declan Hall and Tristen Harris of Lake Cathie Public School unashamedly made sure all the deliciously sweet ingredients were up to the taste-test before they presented their mouth-watering chocolate cake to the judges in round two of the My College Kitchen Rules cooking competition.

Declared the winners of their cook-off by four flavour-savvy judges, the dynamic kitchen duo were humble in accepting their award.

“I just like to cook,” Declan said, playing down the excitement, both admitting they sneaked some of the chocolate ingredients during their bake

The cooking competition is a project of Hastings Secondary College with year 5 students from four local schools – Lake Cathie Public, Westport Public, Telegraph Point and Tacking Point – pairing up with high school buddies to create and deliver a dish for judging.

Project convener and VET co-ordinator at Hastings Secondary College, Sally Shaw, said the cook-off is a fun way to introduce primary school aged children to high school life.

“It gives them a taste of high school and they get a chance to meet some of the students who could be their mentor in the future,” she said.

And no crumb was left without judgement with two of Port Macquarie CWA’s evening branch cooking connoisseurs Gay Cowan and Julie Adams, The Other Chef’s chef Eric Robinson and Department of Education’s Christine Storok casting the final vote.

“I think we’ve been more excited than the kids about this,” Gay said. “They’ve done a great job – the cooking is nearly as good as my mum’s.

“In the end it all comes down to the taste test as well as presentation.

“It’s so nice to see the joy and fulfillment they get when they finish something.”

Students had to submit their dishes, recipe including ingredients online. Some of the outstanding recipes included dessert nachos, Tim Tam pancakes, Milo pop parfaits, vegan chocolate donuts, chicken burgers, vanilla roasted pineapple and Bow Tie chicken.