Say it ain’t so!
I thought I would make a quick post about this whole Nadiya Hussain Queen’s 90th birthday cake controversy. Some of you, my friends are probably like “what are you talking about?” Well, I follow a LOT of cake pages, so this has popped up a MILLION TIMES ON MY NEWSFEED!
I didn’t want to make a quick Facebook post that would get lost on Facebook world forever. I thought I would hop on my blog and make something a little more permanent and organized.
My first thought was: Wow, that cake is crooked. My second thought was: There is a story here.
It turns out that it was made by Nadiya Hussain, winner of the latest season of The Great British Bake Off.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/1285008.html
If you watch this video, you can see how truly sweet this woman is. I can’t hate on her! And her cake looks DELICIOUS. She took such great care to get it level. What went wrong? Was it the fact that she didn’t dam her filling first (she did it second, what?), or maybe she didn’t use proper supports? I don’t know!
But it got me thinking — who determines who DESERVES to make a cake for the Queen of England? You always see the big cake pages (pages who have 15,000 fans or MORE) only post the most professional looking cakes because I guess no one wants to see a cake that’s less-than-perfect.
In the end, just like in business, who determines who gets to make the cake is THE CUSTOMER! This is a tough pill to swallow for some people. Hey, even me sometimes! But sometimes the underdog or the beginner gets to have a chance. The Queen chose Nadiya. Was it because she is a huge British Bake Off fan? Is it a political move because she is Muslim? Was this a public relations move? Who knows? Who cares? The Queen was the customer and she chose Nadiya.
The next thing I’m thinking about is COMFORT ZONE. Nadiya went well out of her comfort zone. She is a baker before a cake decorator.
But you want to know a little teensy secret? Some cakes are LIES … Meaning, there are a lot of cake decorators who use cake mixes and who don’t really like baking. They just want to decorate. But I’m going off on a tangent.
Nadiya went out of her comfort zone, which is something people MUST DO to grow. Great things happen outside of your comfort zone, as I heard someone say recently. However, is the national stage the right time to do it? When you know the news is going to be taking photos and it’s going to be plastered all over the place?
She was nervous; she couldn’t sleep the night before. I know that I couldn’t have, either! It’s great that she went out of her comfort zone. Was her choice of choosing a fondant-covered and tiered cake the best decision for this particular opportunity? Mmmm, probably not, but you know what? It was really brave of her! She got an idea and went for it!
And back to that “the cake is a lie” thing — sometimes the best decorated cakes are dry or not great, while a cake that is less-than-perfect-looking is absolutely delicious. Many cake decorators swear by box mixes. Then other people nail looks AND taste. Nadiya has the baking talent, and the most important aspect of cake is the taste. This is a wonderful starting point. For her, the sky is the limit!
Sources:
Nichole
Nichole's Custom Cakes 