Desserts fit for a Queen
Five bakers in final to find the perfect Platinum pudding
FROM a cake crafted with her favourite tipple to a dessert celebrating the Commonwealth’s diversity, these treats pay tribute to the Queen and her 70-year reign.
They are the creations of five amateur bakers who are finalists in a national contest to find a pudding that will play a part in the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The five, including a lawyer and composer, have been selected from 5,000 entries. The competition is held with royal grocer Fortnum & Mason and street party event the Big Jubilee Lunch.
The Duchess of Cornwall and Dame Mary Berry will announce the winner in a BBC One programme The Queen’s Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years In The Baking, on May 12. Communities will be encouraged to serve the winning recipe at street parties on the Jubilee weekend from June 2 to 5. 1. The lawyer: Sam Smith, 32, a lawyer from Warwickshire, created a Jubilee bundt cake based on a classic Victoria sponge, with a royal twist as it is shaped like a crown. She used Dubonnet in the jam after reading it was the Queen’s favourite drink.
2. The sales manager:
Susan Gardner, 65, from Argyll and Bute in Scotland, a retired sales manager who now works for the National Trust. She created a summery ‘four nations pudding’ using Scottish berries, Yorkshire rhubarb, Welsh cakes and Irish butter and cream. She said she wanted to create something ‘anyone could make’.
Mrs Gardner said the inspiration behind her pudding was to represent the UK ‘as one nation’.
She said: ‘The Queen’s Jubilee is the one time that we can all be together to celebrate our Queen and how she’s represented us during her selfless 70-year service to our country.’ 3. The composer: Motherof-two Kathryn MacLennan, 29, a composer and oboist from Oxfordshire, created a passion fruit and thyme frangipane tart inspired by her late grandmother’s favourite layer cake. It pairs the tartness of passion fruit jelly with a hint of thyme for a subtle floral note, with creamy cheesecake, frangipane, and buttery shortcrust pastry.
4. The skin care expert:
Mother-of-two Shabnam Russo, in her late 30s, a skin care clinic worker from north London, created a rose falooda cake.
She described it as a ‘humble cake of the people’ from the streets of Mumbai. She said she wanted the cake to represent the Queen’s ‘inclusive’ reign.
Mrs Russo added the monarch has been a role model in her life and she feels she has the ‘perfect cake’ to celebrate her reign.
Her recipe reflects the Commonwealth and how Britain has become a multicultural society.
‘My falooda cake is a humble cake of the people and by qualifying I felt I was representing people from all walks of life, their struggles, journeys, their hopes and aspirations. I hope it’s inspiration for anyone really, that you can achieve anything if you just believe in yourself,’ she added. 5. The copywriter: Jemma Melvin, 31, a copywriter from Southport, created a lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle pudding.
The flavour was inspired by the lemon posset served at the Queen’s wedding in 1947 and she chose to elevate it with amaretti and mandarins.