Guest blog: Christie tucker bakes for Pudsey

On 19 November 2010 Pudsey will return to the island for the annual BBC Children in Need appeal and this year we're going cake crazy.

It's all hands to the pump for Children in Need and this year BBC Jersey's Christie Tucker is organising a 'cake party'.

I asked her to tell us a little more on how it works, what's involved and how it came about.

This is her report.

Radio newsrooms are quiet places on a bank holidays. Like policemen or bartenders, journalists tend to be working at times when most other people are still in bed.

It was early on a bank holiday Monday that BBC Jersey's Cake Party for Children in Need was born.

More than likely I was eyeballing the empty snack table in the corner of the room at the time, craving sweets like a Oompa Loompa turned office worker.

From that weak moment, it snowballed. It was easy enough to start the ball rolling among my colleagues. The words cake, party ... Pudsey. We were sold.

Then it flowed: a bake-off, music, a quiz, bucket-shaking like it's going out of style.

My particular fascination was with having a cakewalk. I had always wanted to have one (how many fundraising schemes actually let you walk away with a whole cake of your own, just for walking around in a circle?).

It's an old-fashioned community event, where people walk a numbered path to music and when the music stops, the person standing on the square whose number is drawn, wins!

I get funny looks every time I explain this, but I swear I haven't made it up. It's real!

Now, it's a month before the event. I was woken up by a loudly buzzing fly at two in the morning the other night, and couldn't get back to sleep until I'd gone over every little detail in my mind.

The gorgeous cakes contributed by Jersey's best chefs for auction, the wonders and Victoria Sponges and lemon drizzles piled up for the bake sale, the baking attempts of well-known islanders captured on camera for eternity...

Today I called on my colleagues to give up their lunch hour to talk Cake Party.

From the early days these meetings were just a few hardy souls debating the virtues of cake categories and china cups.

But now, it's standing room only. Our enthusiasm for cake has swept across the newsroom to the very top.

The new boss has revealed a secret desire to be a coffee server, newsreaders are rolling their sleeves up, and even Ryan our online guru has volunteered to design our posters if I give him a break and fill in on the blog.

So while organising a Children in Need event can require perserverence, can test the limits of your persuasive charm, and can lead to more than one sleepless night, I can now see the possibility of a brilliant party at the end of it.

On Saturday, November 20th I will be nursing a cup of coffee, a slice of ginger cake, and a warm and weary glow.

Now if only we can tempt the rest of the island ...

You can head to the BBC Get Baking site for advice and information ahead of the BBC Jersey Bake Off.