Prospective buyers offered a slice of retirement living.

Prospective buyers were offered a slice of retirement living at the opening The Chocolate Quarter’s show home and marketing suite.

Weighing in at an impressive 20kg, the cake was made to celebrate the opening of The Chocolate Quarter’s new show home and marketing suite at the site of the former Cadbury’s factory in Keynsham.

30 per cent of apartments reserved

With 30 per cent of the retirement community’s luxury apartments already reserved off-plan in the first week, the real Chocolate Quarter is proving to be just as popular its cake.

Said St Monica Trust’s Sales Manager, Jill Whittaker: “The response to the development has exceeded our expectations with customers coming from as far away as southern France to make a reservation.

“We had more than two hundred and fifty people attend our opening presentations and The Chocolate Quarter cake went down very well. The St Monica Trust is renowned for its award-winning cuisine and we wanted to give everyone a taste of what they can expect.

63 eggs, 10.5 kg of sugar and 5 kg of chocolate

The Chocolate Quarter cake was created by Chef Manager, Sophie Ball who runs her own cake making business from her home in Hanham.

The recipe for Sophie’s cake, included 63 eggs, 10.5 kg of sugar, 6 kg of flour, 5 kg of chocolate and 3.5 kg of butter and took her 30 hours to decorate.

Sophie said: “It was definitely the most difficult cake I’ve ever made. The detailing on the three buildings was the hardest bit to do, especially trying to fit all the windows in.”

“It had to be large enough for 200 servings, so the sheer size of the cake was also very challenging – particularly getting it out of the car and into the Somerdale Pavilion in one piece.”

Opening summer 2017

Due to open in summer 2017, The Chocolate Quarter will be home to 136 retirement apartments and a 93-bed care home, as well as office space, retail outlets and leisure facilities for the local community, including a 50 seat cinema, swimming pool, dance studio and pizza restaurant with a wood-fired oven.

Said Jill Whittaker: “Members of our sales team will now be based at The Chocolate Quarter’s show home until the development opens in summer 2017. Although, we can’t guarantee everyone a slice of cake, we can guarantee visitors a friendly welcome and some complimentary handcrafted chocolates.”

The Chocolate Quarter’s show home and marketing suite is open on weekdays from 10.00am to 4.00pm and 11.00am to 2.00pm on weekends.

If you would like more information about The Chocolate Quarter call 0117 949 4004 or email sales.tcq@stmonicatrust.org.uk.