Home cooks across the country have been set a royally exciting baking challenge: to create a pudding in celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee this year – and we have some great inspiration for you below.
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On 6 February, Her Majesty will become the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth.
WATCH: The Queen's daily diet revealed
To mark this incredible achievement, events will take place throughout the year including Fortnum & Mason's Platinum Pudding Competition judged by an expert panel including Dame Mary Berry. The competition is already open, with final entries to be submitted by 4 February.
If you fancy entering and are looking for a little inspiration, you may be interested to know the Queen's personal pudding favourites, which are served at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
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The Bombe Glacée Royale
It's long been known that the Queen has a sweet tooth, particularly when it comes to chocolate, so it's no surprise that her go-to dessert is a rich, mint and chocolatey delight known as a Bombe Glacée Royale. Her Majesty is such a huge fan that a fruity version was even served at her wedding in 1947!
The Queen's former chef Darren McGrady previously revealed on his YouTube channel: "An ice-cream bomb was actually served at the Queen and Prince Phillip's wedding - a Bombe Glacée Princess Elizabeth, and that had strawberries in it."
He added: "Probably one of the most popular puddings served at the state banquet was a Bombe Glacée. And I say 'pudding' because, in the royal family, anything that is served after the entre that's sweet is a pudding."
Another of the monarch's favourites is a pud called lemon posset.
The lemon posset pudding
To make a lemon posset, you bring a mixture of cream, sugar and lemons to the boil before setting it in the fridge overnight - a simple yet delicious dessert.
Darren explained: "This brilliant and totally old school dessert uses just heat and cream to turn lemon into a delicious quintessentially British pudding… It's one of the easiest recipes you can make, but actually one of the tastiest too. It used to be on the menu all the time at the Palace."
Chocolate biscuit cake
The Queen is also partial to a slice of cake, and her absolute number one is chocolate biscuit cake - also loved by her grandson Prince William, who even served it as a second cake at his wedding to Kate Middleton.
Darren has said of the cake: "The royal chefs send a whole cake up to Her Majesty every day for tea. She will sometimes take a slice and then it is never seen at the royal table again. The cake is sent to the staff for their afternoon tea."
A few ideas then for your competition entries… the Queen loves chocolate, mint and lemon. Now we're hungry!
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