Violet Bakery owner turned royal wedding cake designer Claire Ptak has a clever dinnertime hack that's certain to appeal to parents who struggle to get their kids to finish a meal.
The mum-of-one - who it has been announced will be creating a cake for Prince Harry and Megan Markle wedding day on Saturday 19 May - has revealed that her two-year-old daughter Frances enjoys food more if she's actually present in the kitchen with her mum when her dishes are made.
'Frances is much more likely to eat what's been prepared for her if she was there when it happened,' the royal wedding cake baker told Waitrose magazine last month.
'It's the same if we eat together - food is so much about the conviviality, talking about how delicious it is.'
Just like 32-year-old Prince Harry's older brother Prince William, 35 and his 36-year-old wife Kate Middleton, Claire has to juggle being a mum with her busy working life.
And as a result of her jam-packed schedule, she goes on to admit that it can be tough to ensure her two-year-old daughter enjoys a healthy and balanced diet that's full of variety.
To avoid getting stuck in a rut of serving up meals lacking in nutritious fruit and veg, Claire has had to force herself to be more experimental with different recipes.
'Owning a business and having a child is hard. It’s easy to get a bit lazy when you're exhausted - you can very quickly get into a pasta-dinner situation so I've had to get back into cooking,' she continues.
'It's a psychological shift but it's worth it.'
We have plenty of delicious suggestions for meals that are fun to cook with the help of your children such as our easy kids' dinner recipes, healthy dinners to make with kids and our cheap family meals which will still help you avoid the 'pasta-dinner situation' as Claire puts it!
The sweet treat that Claire has been commissioned to craft for the upcoming royal wedding in Windsor is a delicate lemon and elderflower sponge.
Sure to be show-stopping and a huge hit with guests, the delicious design is to be covered in buttercream and decorated with fresh flowers to incorporate 'the bright flavours of spring'.
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