Nadiya bakes Queen’s cake
Leeds’ own baking royalty, Nadiya Hussain, cemented her title as ‘queen of the kitchen’ this week after baking and personally presenting the Queen’s official 90th birthday cake.
The 31-year-old mother-of-three shot to fame last year after clinching the prestigious Great British Bake Off title and has become a role model for hijab-wearing Muslims across the country.
Upon announcing her latest royal appointment, she wrote on Twitter: “Thanks everyone for all the lovely messages. I’m still pinching myself. But I am so honoured to [have] been asked #Queenat90.”
Prior to the sweet unveiling, Nadiya revealed that the cake would not be a traditional fruit cake, but rather consist of an orange drizzle with lashings of orange curd and a coating of orange butter cream.
Delivered personally to her Royal Highness at Windsor Castle’s Guildhall on Thursday 21st April, the Queen even cut into one layer of the three-tiered creation, much to the delight of the gathered crowds, and Nadiya herself.
She said: “My theory was that if lemon drizzle was good enough for Mary Berry we could change it up for the Queen.
“She asked me what was in the cake. She asked me if it would cut. I’d seen the problems she’d had at the Women’s Institute that she couldn’t cut the cake so I guess she was thinking about that too.
“That’s what I wanted – for her to cut it, so I didn’t make a fruit cake. It was three tiers, 12 cakes, 42 eggs and it took four days to make.”
It was Nadiya’s trademark facial expressions and skills in the kitchen that put her head and shoulders above the rest in the Bake Off series, despite literally being just five feet tall.
Her constant championing of the hijab earned her the title of ‘role model’ from Muslim communities and, she previously told the Asian Express, it is something she takes great pride in achieving.
“I have been praised as a Muslim role model and that is such a wonderful thing,” she said.
“What I do hope I can inspire people to do, is to believe in their own abilities and believe that dreams can become reality, through hard work, determination and simply believing that they can.”
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