A NORTH Yorkshire woman has risen to the challenge after being asked to help bake 5,000 pieces of fruitcake ahead of the Women's Institute's centenary celebrations.

After a search to find the country’s best fruitcake recipe, Yorkshire Dales resident and chairwoman of Denman Educational College Anne Harrison, 70, has turned over her kitchen to deliver her quota of the classic teatime treat to be served at the Royal Albert Hall in London in June.

As part of the centenary celebrations, and to honour the WI’s expertise and heritage in baking and cooking, the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) launched a competition among members.

After much careful baking and tasting, the winning recipe was selected, and now Mrs Harrison, along with Patricia Tulip, chairwoman of the cookery committee, will use the winning recipe to bake all 5,000 portions ahead of the annual meeting in June.

Mrs Harrison, from Aysgarth, has been a WI member for 49 years and said she has loved every minute of it – and despite her husband’s reservations about her challenge, she said so far she does not regret taking it on.

She said: “I’ve made 22 12ins cakes so far – but each one takes about five hours.

“I was a judge in the competition to find the best recipe, and it doesn’t differ much from my own tried and tested method.

“In this recipe, the flavour comes from the quality of ingredients, such as good-quality English butter from Dairy Crest with moistness from ground almonds.

“There’s around three wine glasses of rum in the largest cakes, so that creates a lovely flavour.

“There’s no lemon rind or mixed spice, and this is a relatively easy cake to make.”

Mrs Harrison has been chairwoman of the prestigious Denman since she was elected in 2006, but said she enjoys baking with her family just as much.

“My sons love cooking, but not so much baking. I’m quite happy even if they make a mess in the kitchen," she said.

“My granddaughter especially enjoyed baking as a child. She’d come round and we’d all be baking together as a family.”

A serving of cake made to the winning recipe will be given to each of the 5,000 WI members who attend the organisation’s annual meeting.

Mrs Harrison said: “My kitchen is completely upside down right now – my husband thinks I’m crackers to have taken this on, but I’ve not regretted it yet."

A host of special activities are taking place throughout 2015 to celebrate the centenary of the WI, which is the largest voluntary women’s organisation in the UK.

The winning recipe was written by Julie Clark of North Yorkshire West Federation.