One of those stories that speak for themselves. Until last night, i had not watched a single episode of Baked Off. I like chocolate, coffee or ginger cakes if put in front of me but have no great passion for, or even interest in, baking. But once I had been asked to write about* the final of the contest, I warmed as others have to the winner, Nayida Hussain (photo from her Facebook pages) ...
A Muslim mother-of-three who captured the affections of millions of Britons with her cake-making skills – and eye-catching facial expressions – has been hailed “an inspiration” to women of her faith after being crowned Britain’s best amateur baker.
In the final of the BBC’s Great British Bake Off, Nadiya Hussain, 30, defeated Tamal Ray, a trainee anaesthetist of Indian origin, and Ian Cumming, a travel photographer sometimes employed by the Dalai Lama.
The climax to the 10-week competition attracted 14.5 million viewers at its peak – a record for any UK television programme this year.
Mrs Hussain baked 16 iced cakes, a raspberry mille-feuille and what she called “my big fat British wedding cake” for the “showstopper” section of the programme.
She designed the cake in red, white and blue, choosing the colours of the Union flag as a deliberate statement of her Britishness.
The splendour of her creation, described by the judges as “sheer perfection”, made up for the lack of a wedding cake at her own marriage ceremony in her family’s native Bangladesh, where varied desserts are uncommon.
“I bought a sari that was red, white and blue … and I decorated my stand with that,” said Mrs Hussain, who was born in the southern English town of Luton but now lives in the northern city of Leeds.
“My husband Abdal’s favourite cake is lemon drizzle, so I decided to make that. At the very end of the filming I took the cake out to my family’s table [on set] and we all had a slice. So my husband and I did get our wedding cake after all.”
As she fought her way to the finals, Mrs Hussain experienced early setbacks. Her vol-au-vent pastry cases were likened to “buttery cellulite” and she admitted she had entered the contest fearing she would be dismissed as ”a Muslim in a headscarf” by people questioning her ability.
“I hope that, week by week, people have realised that I can bake,” she told the broadcasting magazine Radio Times. “And just because I’m not a stereotypical British person, it doesn’t mean that I am not into bunting, cake and tea. I’m just as British as anyone else, and I hope I have proved that.”
Mrs Hussain’s interest in baking grew when she was a teenager who got bored with the desserts at her father’s Indian-style restaurant and was limited to ice cream at home.
Although widely tipped to win after resounding success in some previous rounds, Mrs Hussain wept when declared the winner. Previously a shy woman with little self-confidence, she said, fighting back tears: “I am never going to put boundaries on myself ever again. I am never going to say ‘I can’t do it’ ... I am never going to say I think I don’t think I can. I can and I will.”
Although she has known for the last four months that she was the winner, Mrs Hussain had to keep her victory a secret until the screening of the final on Wednesday. All her children, aged nine, eight and four, knew the outcome but she said she trained them to be “compulsive liars” after wrapping the trophy in newspaper and hiding it under her bed.
Her trophy is not accompanied by a cash prize but media analysts have said Mrs Hussain could make at least £1 million from a book deal, broadcasting and personal appearances. Her immediate ambitions are less grand; she loves looking after her children and is determined to complete an Open University degree.
On Twitter, Mrs Hussain tweeted to her 54,500 followers: “To the amazing people who gave me this opportunity. To my gorgeous baker friends. What a ride. Thank you.”
Social media has been awash with references to the facial expressions Mrs Hussain made throughout the series, showing her wide-ranging emotions of joy and bewilderment, disappointment and even self-anger. A taste for self-deprecatory asides also endeared her to viewers.
On baking a pile of religieuses à l’ancienne, eclairs in the shape of nuns, she said: “This is my eighth nun. I’ve had some nun disasters, some nun landslides, some nun explosions.”
After producing a snake-shaped bread, she said: “I’ve tried the snake loads of times, and he just explodes in the oven. He’s enormous.”
Britons increasingly warmed to her as the series developed with even prime minister David Cameron chiming in to say he wanted her to win.
The Muslim Association of Britain, meanwhile, described Mrs Hussain as “an inspiration to many British Muslims, and especially Muslim women”.
There were also negative comments. Some online readers of the right-wing Daily Mail tabloid suggested she had won on a “politically correct, multicultural” agenda.
However, another reader retorted: “Congrats and well deserved. This must be making the UKIP [right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party] fanatics here froth and foam at the mouth. Brilliant!”
* Reproduced from The National, Abu Dhabi with the editor's consent. See this and all my work for the paper at http://www.thenational.ae/authors/colin-randall
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