• By Charlie Browning
• Published 12/1/2012

Bad news – you can attempt as many baking recipes as you like, but the likelihood is that you will never be quite as good as 29-year-old Lauren Prince, who has just picked up the Blog of the North Award for her site, Around the World in Eighty Bakes.

Lauren, from Mount Pleasant, Washington, has picked up a

In celebration of her win, Lauren was presented with a cash prize, a badge she can use on her blog pages and financial support to run the site for a year.

The awards, which celebrate the best online writing in the North of England, were held at the Deaf Institute in Manchester and judges included BBC Radio 2 and 6Music DJ and author Stuart Maconie.

The blog was shortlisted for the award from 400 nominees.

Lauren said: “I thought it was good to get shortlisted out of that many contenders, so it was brilliant to win.”

Her win for the best food and drink blog was the only prize awarded to a North East winner and was praised for its combination of baking and travel writing.

Lauren writes about her experiences whilst travelling with fiancé Chris Hoy, 30, the places they have discovered and the different foods she bakes.

She began her baking expedition on a whim in September last year and so far has travelled half-way around the world and reached the half-way mark on her culinary challenge.

“I’ve just baked Sunderland gingerbread,” she said.

“I used to work at the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums and I bought a postcard from there with the recipe on.”

Other recipes Lauren has baked on her mission include Fiji banana bread, Turkish delight, and Mexican chocolate and chilli cake and her sweet treats have taken her all the way to America, Asia and even Australia.

Now Lauren, who works as a development officer for an advice website, faces her biggest challenge to date – her own wedding cake.

“It’s five layers of fruit cake and each one has a different flavour booze in. I’ve started it and the wedding’s in December.”

About the Author : Charlie Browning is writing about Baking recipes