Her flavours were flawless, her banter was brilliant and her smile lit up the tent. Bookies' favourite Nadiya Jamal Hussain carried off the Great British Bake Off prize in a finale watched by an estimated 14 million, producing flawless iced buns, towering mille feuilles and a showstopper lemon wedding cake with marshmallow icing and jewels and flower for decoration. The Leeds mother of three who, early in the series had joked that she didn't stand a chance as a headscarf wearing Muslim, easily beat of rival Tamal Ray, a trainee anaesthesist with a handy line in sugar craft, and father of two Cummings, whose showstopper bakes included a biscuit bicycle.
"I'm never going to say I can't again, I can" said Bangladeshi born Nadiya in tearful triumph. Prime Minister David Cameron declared himself a fan, while Chancellor George Osborne was among the first to tweet his congratulations.
There were tears too from Ian, who’d dreamt up his elderflower iced buns while cycling by hedgerows, and dishy Tamal, whose sticky toffee pudding cake inispired by a Chinese abandoned village and garlanded in spun sugar, could not atone for his badly iced buns and runny creme pat. Never mind, sometimes it’s better not to win. In 2013 runner up Ruby Tandoh ended up with a column in The Guardian and her own best-selling cookbook, Crumb.
This sixth series of the GBBO has been the most succesful yet averaging 10 million viewers per show and with just an enough collapsing cakes and slovenly trifles to keep people glued to their seats. Key to the success of the programme is the chemistry between the judges - permatanned Paul Hollywood with his penetrating blue star, and and queen of puddings Mary Berry, 80 this year and looking exceptionally good for the all the cake she has to eat.
In previous Bake Offs, Berry had tended to sniff suspiciously at t he unusual flavours and exotic concoctions dreamed up by contestants of different race, but this time she seemed charmed by Nadiya’s humour and off- beat taste combos - bubble gum gateau one week and a fantabulous peacock made of coloured chocolate.
Twelve contestants had been whittle down to three in a final that allowed no margin for error. Even the most simple seeming confections have to be absolutely perfect. “An iced bun is a thing of beauty” said Paul Hollywood, with his signature stare. Ian falls down badly.. his buns are turned into “crispy baps.” - Gasp!
While Hollywood is a stickler for texture and flavour, Berry, 80, has a pretty piercing stare herself, which can turn gimlet when a contestant produces a soggy bottom pastery case. In the technial challenge where contestants are given only the bones of a recipe for something famously tricky, Nadiya fretted over the maths of assembling three layers by six, but ultimately came out with the most even batch of the three, while Ian’s candystripe icing fell apart in Mary’s hands. Shock!
Nadiya walked away with her bouquet and trophy, but with the certainty too that a career in baking is there for the taking. Previous winners have opened cake shops, written blogs, travelled the world and baked cakes for the rich and famous. Ian Cummins is already on a roll - since filming for the GBOB ended this summer he has baked cakes for, among others, the Dalai Lama.
