Cakes from East Lancashire good enough for royalty at London's St James' Palace

Amy Gilmore and her husband David, owners of Polka Pops, were invited to supply cakes and chocolate pops for a royal event at St James’ Palace in London.

The budding baker was invited personally by HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York to supply his business event Pitch @ Palace.

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The event provides a platform for new entrepreneurs and an awards ceremony was held for finalists who were picked from regional events across the country.

The mum-of-three met the Duke at one of the regional palace events organised in Manchester and after sampling Polka Pops treats he invited her to supply the finalist event in London on Monday night.

Mrs Gilmore said she couldn’t believe what had happened.

She said: “We got a call a few months ago saying the Duke liked the samples we had brought to the event and that we would be formally invited for the finals in London.

“I received the royal invitation in the post last week and I was completely taken back by the whole thing.

“It felt so surreal. I met the Duke at one of the regional rounds of the Pitch @ Palace event when he tried my cakes and he really liked them.”

The bakers drove thousands of pops and a cake tower to London and set them up for the big event.

Mrs Gilmore said: “We had to take the cake tower through the main gates but get a taxi to the front.

“It was a nervy stage as I had the tower on my lap in the taxi and was worried it would fall.”

Hundreds of guests and celebrities sampled the treats which were part of a goodie bag, including Sarah, Duchess of York and Princess Beatrice.

Mrs Gilmore said: “I’m very proud of what our bakery has achieved, the Princess took a fond interest in my cakes and that made me so happy.

“I used to be a baker in Asda for nine years and decided I wanted to do something more family based.

“I’ve always been passionate about baking, my mum was a very good baker and I’ve been brought up in a house of baking .”