In the latest post of her exclusive #NadiyaBakes blog, Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain goes off-brief for her nephew's birthday cake and is dete
rmined to crack a big Bake Off reunion...
So I have not been that busy. I lie. I have been the busiest I have ever been in my life. My feet have not touched the ground and not in the dreamy, euphoric cloud 9 kind of way. I have been busy and excited and still having fun. That hasn't really deterred the meeting with friends, cooking, baking, eating or just having a good time. So busy could be the understatement of the year. But there is a method to the madness and a calm to the chaos that I have really enjoyed these last few weeks. I finally met up with a few of my Great British Bake Off buddies which was a long time coming and even then we didn't manage to get all 12 of us together. It may never happen, but we will keep trying till we do.
"He wanted an elaborate Minecraft cake with characters, but all I could stretch to was a vanilla cake with blue icing..."
I have not had a chance to make many birthday cakes over the last few months so I jumped at the chance to make a cake for my nephew's 8th birthday. He wanted an elaborate Minecraft cake with characters, but all I could stretch to was a vanilla cake with blue icing and blue biscuits. Time being an issue, not to mention I was weary about creating a square cake covered in squares and filled with square hidden surprise cake on the inside. One blue cake later, let's just say we had some very happy hyper kids post-party. I even managed to make my dad a sugar-free chocolate orange Swiss roll. As long as everyone is happy, I'm happy.
"Nothing beats the look on his face when he is met by his favourite plate of food"
I have had a normal few weeks enjoying being at home, but I have also had the chance to prepare for an amazing trip abroad. So that has meant lots of cooking, testing and feeding. Best of all, I made my husband's favourite thing to eat after 4 days away from home. A thaali, with 4 different curry dishes, salad, chillies, pickle, two types of rice and rice chappatis. It's a thankless task trying to create so many dishes only to present them in tiny ramekins and not in enormous man-size portions. But nothing beats the look on his face when he is met by his favourite plate of food in the world after days of eating kebabs and tepid soggy chips out of golden polystyrene shells. As always, if the people I love are happy, so am I. And now to packing. I shall return after the adventure of a lifetime...
