Christmas comes early for Tweedbank baker Nicola with appearance on Kirstie’s craft show

Nicola Moffat put her cake-decorating skills out there for all to see on Kirstie Allsopp’s Channel 4 show Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas.

As owner of Ruby and Pearl Cake Design for the past three years, Nicola is no stranger to creating cakes of all shapes and sizes for weddings and special occasions, so she jumped at the chance to appear on the popular television craft show.

“I had to design a Christmas cake in my own style and had six hours to create it,” the 40-year-old said.

“To be honest, I didn’t have to bake it or do many covers of icing with it, so timing-wise it was fine and I was finished 10 minutes before the six hours was up.

“It all felt quite natural. It was really good fun and with no pressure. It didn’t feel like a competition at all.

“Just being there was amazing in itself.

“I have watched the show before and I am a massive Kirstie Allsopp fan anyway, so it was just amazing to get to meet her.

“We had a nice chat at the end. She’s so professional and focused and there’s certainly a lot going on.

“I have all the episodes recording on a series link.”

Flying the flag for Scotland, mum-of-two Nicola was up against three other women from Yorkshire, Liverpool and Essex, with the last claiming the victory on the day.

Show bosses spotted Nicola’s modern and eye-catching cake designs on Instagram account and invited her to feature in the third episode of the 14-part festive series, available now on catch-up.

The episode featured an interview with Nicola filmed at her Tweedbank home, –shared with husband Richard and children Ruby, 10, and Oscar, 6, in October – before following her into the Devon studio.

“They spotted my designs online and sent me a message asking if I would be interested in taking part in the show and of course I said yes,” she said.

“The response since then has been absolutely incredible. I didn’t foresee the interest in it at all. I was not thinking about that part of it all.

“I’ve been carrying it around with me as a secret for the last couple of months and now people are stopping me in the supermarket and saying how they’d be tuning in or had their telly set to record it.

“It has been amazing. I just hope nobody is disappointed that I didn’t win.”