The Perfect Pudding Has Been Chosen For Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee

When Britain's Queen Elizabeth was first crowned in 1953, it fell to Rosemary Hume and her students at L'Ecole du Petit Cordon Bleu in London's Marylebone district to prepare lunch for the newly minted Queen and her guests, which Le Cordon Bleu London says was made up of guests from other countries. In all, 350 people were served "Poulet Reine Elizabeth," which consisted of "young roasting chickens, water and a little wine to cover carrot, a bouquet garni, salt, peppercorns and a cream of curry sauce." The dish, which is known today as coronation chicken, was groundbreaking at the time because the country was still in the throes of rationing imposed after World War Two.

Fast forward to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. There were no professional bakers and chefs involved in preparing what would be called the Platinum Pudding. Instead, one of the suppliers to the Queen's household, Fortnum and Mason, held a competition where the lead judge would be Dame Mary Berry. 

When the contest was announced, Buckingham Palace's Head Chef Mark Flanagan took to social media to advise contestants to keep it simple. "Most of us think of a pudding or a cake as a treat, so really make the flavours sing so they can be that treat," Flanagan said in a video uploaded to Twitter.

In the end, the honor of creating the platinum pudding went to copywriter Jemma Melvin, whose creation, a Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti Trifle, bested four other desserts: a Four Nations Berry Pudding, an Indian-inspired Rose Falooda Cake, a fruity Passionfruit and Thyme Frangipane Tart, and a festive Jubilee Bundt Cake, per contest organizer Fortnum and Mason. 

Melvin says she was inspired by both grandmothers because "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," she said. To arrive at the trifle's signature flavor, Melvin did a bit of digging and found a bit of trivia about the Queen. "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," she says. "My gran and my nan, they very much liked lemon as well, so it all just slotted into place."

Fortnum and Mason calls Melvin's trifle a "crowd-pleasing summer dessert," which features layers of lemon curd, a citrusy St. Clement's jelly, custard, Amaretti biscuits, a mandarin coulis, and Jewelled chocolate bark. And like the coronation chicken first created decades ago, Fortnum and Mason's executive pastry chef Roger Pizey predicted that "I really think we'll be making Jemma's trifle for at least the next 50 to 100 years, without a doubt," per The Guardian.