I feared Bake Off fans would write me off because I wear the headscarf
Inspiring story of the unlikely favourite who has won Britain over
‘Maybe now you can believe in yourself Nadiya, like I believe in you!’ She replied: ‘Are you being nice because you want cake? Love you. You are my rock.’
Taking part in the contest with three young children — the couple have two sons and one daughter aged nine, eight and four, whom Nadiya describes as her ‘rowdy brood’ — clearly hasn’t been easy.
She recently revealed that she honed her baking skills at night after putting her children to bed. ‘I’d practise until about two or three in the morning. I would do the same recipe every day until I got it right. I couldn’t do it in the day as I had all the housework to do — but once the kids were in bed and I had nobody bothering me or asking me for things, I could focus completely on what I had to do.’
And just a few weeks ago, Nadiya tweeted that her eight-year-old son had been admitted to hospital because he was poorly and had to watch the Bake Off i n the children’s ward. ‘Even though he’s sick in hospital he still wants to watch,’ she tweeted. The youngster is now back at home but needed to stay in for a couple of days during which the couple are said to have stayed by his bedside.
The family home, since 2008, is a £ 160,000 three- bedroom, semidetached house on a pretty, residential street in Leeds.
‘Ever since I’ve known her, which is about eight years, she has been a keen baker,’ says Margaret Notting- ham, who lives next door. ‘She is a lovely person. I’m so proud she has got this far. She’s always inviting me round for a cup of tea. I have tried her Black Forest gateau and that was beautiful.’
David Burns, another neighbour, revealed that Nadiya keeps photographs of everything she bakes in a portfolio in her kitchen. ‘I paid her a visit one day and she showed me her portfolio,’ he says.
‘When I saw her a couple of weeks ago, she mentioned something about baking a cake and sharing it out with the neighbours — so I’ll look forward to that.’ Though filming ended five months ago — with Nadiya driving three hours to Berkshire and back each weekend throughout filming in April and May — she bakes at home most days, posting stunning pictures online.
Above all, she enjoys making things for her brothers and sisters, who all still live in the Luton area. ‘Seeing my sister every Wednesday on The Great British Bake Off is literally the proudest I have ever felt,’ her sister Yasmin wrote online last month.
This week, Nadiya’s loved ones were sworn to silence about the Bake Off — and even they haven’t been told the outcome.
Her father has taken two weeks off work, and relatives are believed to be visiting from Bangladesh.
In Luton, Nadiya’s mother and sisters told the Mail they weren’t allowed to comment. Jasminara’s husband, Mohammed Subhan, would only say: ‘We wish her all the best and hope she does well.’
So what would winning mean to this somewhat unlikely queen of cakes?
Nadiya recently started a degree in childhood and youth studies at the Open University, but friends say her dream is to bake full-time.
On her mantelpiece at home sits a photograph, s howing Nadiya surrounded by the other 12 contestants in the Bake Off tent.
She posted it online at the start of the series, with the message: ‘We are in this together, friends for life.’
Whatever happens on Wednesday night, one thing is for certain. In a quiet street i n Leeds, excited relatives, friends and neighbours will gather around the television, with platefuls of homemade treats handed round by their excited hostess.
When 8pm strikes, they, like the rest of Britain, will be holding their breath.
And the British-Bangladeshi girl who grew up without an oven will — once again — make people happy with her baking.
If t hat doesn’t make her a worthy winner, it’s hard to know what would.