LONDON: Aisya Syahrul's use of her Malaysian heritage in culinary skills wowed judges in Britain's Junior Bake Off (JBO) recently that saw her and three other participants sailing through to the next round of heat that will hopefully take them to the finals on Jan 28, where one of them will be crowned Junior Bake Off champion.
The programme, a spin from the popular Channel 4 series Great British Bake Off, saw 16 youngsters, aged 9 to 15, taking part in two groups.
The four chosen junior bakers from each group will meet head to head today at the JBO big tent in a secret location in the English countryside.
Although there's no big cash prize for winning the show, the winner takes home a glass cake stand trophy and the honour of being the best on the series.
Aisya, 12, had consistently won over judges Liam Charles, British baker and TV presenter, and Ravneet Gill, British pastry chef and author, particularly with her pastries.
In episode nine, the youngster, who says she wants to follow her father's footsteps in medicine, created what the judges described as "light and crumbly pastry" peanut butter tarts that "melts in the mouth.
During the Pop Tart challenge, she got first place in the technical challenge.
For her showstopper, where participants had to use their imagination to create a colourful personalised family crest pie in two hours, she used Malaysian curry powder to make chicken, potato and peas filling.
Her topping, which showed her family crest, had the Jalur Gemilang and Union Jack on top of the pie.
Although the judges said the decoration was a bit messy, they were impressed with the pastry.
Liam said the chicken curry filling took them back to Malaysia.
In another episode, where participants were tasked with making a biscuit box, "About Me", Aisya had hibiscus flowers as decorations.
In one challenge, "Dessert Imposter", she created chicken satay made of cookie dough, complete with "sliced cucumber" placed on "banana leaf" on a chocolate cake.
Aisya was declared Star Baker for this challenge.
The schoolgirl from Manchester had employed her culinary skills, which she said she learnt from cooking with her mother as well as exchanging recipes with her grandmother in Malaysia through video calls.
According to an interview released by Channel 4, she said she applied for JBO because she wanted to showcase her baking talent and have them judged by Rav and Liam.
"I wanted my bakes to have been tasted from a professional point of view so that I could get better feedback and become a better baker."
She said baking had been a part of her since when she was little.
She will be with seven participants in heat two starting today.