Meet the Finalists

After months of delicious deliberation — and more than 5000 entries from talented home bakers around the country — we're delighted to announce the 5 finalists in our Platinum Pudding Competition. 

Meet each of our chosen bakers, discover their extraordinary recipes, and chose your own favourite before the winner is officially announced on Thursday 12th May, during a BBC One special programme on the competition.

Jemma's Lemon Swiss Roll & Amaretti Trifle

Jemma is a copywriter from Southport. She lives with her long-term partner, James, and their beloved rescue-dog Bella. Jemma started baking when she was six or seven.

'My inspiration is both my gran and my nan. My gran is with us, sadly my nan is not, but they are both extremely important to me. My gran taught me how to bake but my nan's signature dish was a trifle, [so] this dish is an absolute tribute to them both,' said Jemma.

'I found out that The Queen had lemon posset at her wedding so I decided the pudding had to be based around the lemon flavour. My gran and my nan, they very much liked lemon as well, so it all just slotted into place.'

Kathryn's Passionfruit & Thyme Frangipane Tart

Kathryn is a composer and oboist who lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, Mike, and their two young children. She’s been baking since she was a young child, and the inspiration behind her pudding is her beloved late grandma, who passed away in April 2020, aged 84.

'She was simply incredible. She was a night auxiliary nurse for the NHS and continued working during COVID, she just never retired,' said Kathyrn.

'She was my inspiration – I used to bake for her and always used to take puddings and other food for her to enjoy. I'm entering this recipe not only as the perfect way to mark 70 years of The Queen's reign, but also to honour my grandma's years of dedicated service to the NHS.'

Sam's Jubilee Bundt Cake

Sam is a lawyer from Warwickshire where she lives with her husband, Craig, and her dog, Shadow.

'I entered the competition because I thought...why not?' said Sam. 'My creation is the Jubilee Bundt Cake, which is based on the classic Victoria sponge but with some royal twists — the Dubonnet jam and the regal crown shape which I hoped would make it stand out. My mum told me The Queen’s favourite tipple is Dubonnet, so I decided to incorporate it into my jam, so it would have a bit of a kick.

'I’m quite impulsive and once I had the idea, I put [the cake] together one Saturday afternoon, took a picture and entered it. I can’t quite believe that now I'm here as one of the finalists!'

Shabnam's Rose Falooda Cake

Shabnam lives in North London with her husband and their two children. She learned to bake in her grandparent's Mumbai home, sneaking into their kitchen with her sister to bake.

'I am a big fan of The Queen,' said Shabnam. 'Her pragmatism, her steadfastness, her feminism, her dedication. She's a role model for me. She has embraced a multiracial, multicultural society, and I wanted my cake to reflect that as well as the Commonwealth.

'When it comes to this pudding, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, sweet, smooth, cool, crunchy, velvety, it engages the palate on all levels – a pudding truly fit for The Queen.'

Susan's Four Nations Pudding

Susan lives in Argyll and Bute with her dog Dexter. She entered the competition – her first ever baking contest – while recovering from an accident last year.

'I sent a recipe off and put it out of my head. I never thought I'd hear anything else about it,' said Susan, whose recipe is made with ingredients from across the UK: Scottish berries, Yorkshire rhubarb, Welsh Cakes and Irish butter and cream.

'My son's at university in Cardiff, my brother-in-law is English and we're of a Scottish-Irish background, so the four nations idea kept coming to me. I wanted to create something to represent the UK coming together, [because] the Jubilee is the one time we can all be together to celebrate our Queen, and her selfless service to our country.'

We asked that the recipe fields be completed to the best of your ability. This meant filling out the recipe form in English and listing the ingredients in metric measurements. In addition, our judges were looking for a winning pudding that means the following criteria.

The ingredients list needed to be 100% accurate - even a degree of imprecision can affect the flavour of a recipe. And of course, it should taste, well, delicious.

The winning dish needed to be easy enough for people everywhere to recreate at home! Our judging panel were looking for ingredients and kitchen equipment readily available to people all over the world, rather than fancy gadgets and complicated instructions.

A good pudding is made with passion and pride, so we loved hearing stories behind the entries. These included recipes inspired by Her Majesty The Queen’s life, those handed down through the generations, or a special family memory.

The proof of the pudding may be in the eating, but this one will be served to The Queen, so it needs to look the part.