A resident of Cooks Beach is the media liaison for Bakels, the organiser and sponsor of New Zealand’s national Pie Awards. Cynthia Daly is her name and she has been residing in Cooks Beach with her husband for three years. Cynthia is a regular writer for The Informer due to her involvement in community service as a member of the Whitianga Lions Club. Cynthia has a great deal to do with the promotion and publicity associated with the Bakels national Pie Awards
2025 was a spectacular awards evening at the Cordiss Hotel in Symonds Street, Auckland, attended by hundreds of people all dressed in seventies vogue and heavily endowed with Beatles wigs and metallic gold wear, all seated at a sea of tables. Every guest was stylishly name tagged and received a gift card offering a lava lamp at the end of the evening.
The ballroom was a colossal splash of colour, mirror lights and seventies design party disco décor.
Announcing the winners for each of the major categories was trumpeted by spectacular glitzy dancing routines and interspersed by the serving of a three course meal.
The Informer was present at the awards evening and very hopeful that one or some of the thirteen entries from the Coromandel Peninsula might get a place, as in 2023, Chill Café of Whangamata won a gold award and Tatti Frutti, now of Tairua, won a second with their pie. This year, out of 4,600 pie entries from 540 different bakeries and cafes, there were no awards for the Coromandel area.
Coromandel Peninsula’s Coghill Cafe
It is wide knowledge that Coghill Café in Whitianga received a lot of the judges attention with Brent’s pie, as a first time entry in the café boutique award section. The red heart on the top of their pie is red quinoa edible seeds.
To their credit, Coghill Cafe did feature in Seven Sharp, TVNZ One Thursday, 31st August because of their quality of baking and the service given by Brent and Fiona as a family team.
It was an exciting night and bakers in general would feel affirmed and honoured for their craft. The humble pie is very important to kiwis and still the most-loved ready to serve food in New Zealand.
Believe it or not, there were no pies, large or small as part of the menu at the 2025 Pie Awards. However, the pie warmers out in the foyer of the Cordiss were full of beautiful pies which you could sample as you left. Well done Bakels and all the bakers of the much loved pie.
