A Derbyshire chemicals company employee has used her science background to create a regal pudding judged one of the UK’s top 50 in a TV contest to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee.
Danielle Malik secured a top 50 slot in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Competition to find a pudding made by a home baker fit to celebrate Her Majesty’s record 70 years on the British throne.
Her stunning seven-layer purple and gold mousse cake was chosen by judges Fortnum & Mason as one of their favourites out of 5,000 entries sent in nationwide.
Danielle Malik decorating her cake with whipped cream swirls.
Image: Katie Cox, Penguin PR
The project manager from Lubrizol, who is based at the company’s UK headquarters in Hazelwood near Belper, told how she sent in her recipe “at the 11th hour” of the final day and never expected to get as far as she did.
Danielle, of Oakwood in Derby, said: “I submitted the recipe very much at the last minute and nothing happened for about three weeks. Then I got a phone call one afternoon to say I had got through to the final 50!
“I was quite emotional. I’ve played around with baking, but I’ve never really created any recipe and I’ve never done anything like this from scratch, with all these different layers. I was quite shocked and overcome!”
Danielle’s seven layer Jubilee cake.
Image: Katie Cox, Penguin PR
Danielle spent about a week in the kitchen after work to finalise her creation. Her pudding has seven layers: a lemon cake; lemon syrup, blueberry mousse, lemon mousse, blueberry jelly, whipped cream swirls and edible flowers, each element representing a decade that Her Royal Highness has been Queen. The gold and purple colour scheme references the crown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation, while the flavour is a nod to the lemon posset served at her wedding to Prince Philip – an idea shared by the competition’s overall winner, Jemma Melvin’s lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle.
In the spirit of true scientific rigour, Danielle conducted painstaking experiments in order to come up with the perfect ingredients to make the right shade of purple for her cake, discarding her original idea to use violets before finally settling on blueberry.
Danielle said: “I changed the recipe three times to get it to work. When I finally made it, one of the most nerve-wracking parts was cutting it to submit the photo to the judges. I was nervous about that because I wanted to prove that the cake would remain standing when I cut it. Luckily, I managed to cut it cleanly! I was very happy with the mirrored finish I achieved on it too.”
After being chosen as one of the top 50 puddings of all those entered, Danielle was interviewed by a chef from London’s famous Fortnum & Mason so judges could find out more about her pudding. Although her cake did not make the final five, it was featured as Derby’s representative in the opening footage of the BBC One Documentary: The Jubilee Pudding, 70 Years in the Baking. Danielle said when talking to judges about how her recipe could be simplified to make it easier to make, she had been delighted with feedback that it was “perfect and elegant” exactly as it was.
Danielle Malik, creator of a seven layer Jubilee cake.
Image: Katie Cox, Penguin PR
Danielle said she had started to be interested in baking as a child, “dabbling” alongside her mother by making jam tarts. As an adult she progressed to making novelty cakes and cupcakes for her family members, friends and as charity baking donations.
Having started out at Lubrizol working in the company’s labs, she said her scientific mind and training proved very helpful in the kitchen.
She said: “Baking is a science as well as an art. Understanding ingredients and how each functions helps to balance texture and flavour.
“Having a science background gives appreciation for the different purposes of the different ingredients and also helps in getting measurements exactly right!”
As for future baking challenges, Danielle’s appetite has now been whetted to expand her baking knowledge beyond the world of cakes. She said: “I plan to start making some of the past technical challenges from the Great British Bake Off over the next few months.” The programme covers an array of baking techniques which she hopes to master.
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