The Great British Bake Off winner Syabira Yusoff has revealed herself to be a tank fanatic and will be visiting The Tank Museum on Sunday 26 February.
Last year’s winner of the hit TV show, The Great British Bake Off is coming to The Tank Museum to celebrate our centenary.
Syabira has disclosed that to relax she plays computer games about tanks and on a previous visit to the museum got to hug her favourite vehicle, the Panther. She will be visiting on Sunday 26th February for our 100th Birthday Baking Battle when she will meet fans and judge a cake competition. There will also be a baking fair. Anyone can enter the baking competition – which will give the entrants free admission to the museum on the day of the event – details can be found below. The prizes are a half-day cookery experience at the 5* Chewton Glen Hotel near New Milton in Hampshire, which is a favourite of the famous.
Syabira, originally from Malaysia who is now a cardiovascular research associate at King’s College in London, wowed the judges of the TV show with her baking skills.
During the competition she was awarded ‘Star Baker’ three times and received a ‘Hollywood handshake’ during Halloween week. Judge Paul Hollywood described her six-layered red velvet cake as: “perfect, and better than my cake.”
Fellow judge Prue Leith said: “She is creative… she practises like anything and she is imaginative; she just has the lot. She is a very skilful baker.”
Syabira said: “My interest in tanks was inspired by an online WWII simulation game, which I play to relax and which has also taught me a lot about leadership. The game enables me to operate tanks so I just had to go and see them in real life at the Tank Museum and was amazed at how big they are.
“I even hugged my favourite, which is the Panther, but I didn’t get to see the famous Tiger 131, as it must have been in for repairs but hopefully I’ll see it when I return on 26 February. I didn’t expect the museum to be so vast and to have such a huge collection of armour. It really was a great day out and I can’t wait to go back again. I watched TANKFEST on YouTube and am really looking forward to attending the live event in the summer.”
Visitor Experience General Manager, Rosanna Dean said: “We have lots of events lined up to celebrate our centenary and our baking fair and competition is the first.
“Syabira will judge a competition and we’re asking that entrants send in pictures of their cakes. There are two categories; tank cakes and a novelty category. We’re hoping those on the shortlist will re-bake their cakes to bring to the museum for Syabira to see in person. Learning that Syabira was a tank fan came as a surprise to us but we’re chuffed she’s agreed to return to help us celebrate our 100th birthday on 26th February.”
