THE royal kitchen at Buckingham Palace took delivery of a very special two-tiered treat on Saturday, courtesy of a 72-year-old Weaverham cake maker.

A proud Meg Steward, former owner of The Cottage Loaf Bakery in Northwich Road, spent six days creating her masterpiece - a fruit cake adorned with 2,000 iced dots, a model barge with royal regalia and a fifty pence commemorative coin.

The mum-of-three said it was an ‘honour’ to be given consent to deliver her cake direct to the palace chef, as a special commemoration gift for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

“Some people think I’m crackers,” she said.

“But if you work it out, this lady has been 60 years on the throne and she has never put a foot wrong, she’s the Queen of the United Kingdom.

“She has allowed me to make this cake and give it to her as a gift for her Diamond Jubilee, I’m just chuffed.

“It really is an honour.”

She added: “I have loved doing it.

“When I had the shop I never had time for anything but since I have retired I have got time, and it is a luxury.”

The Northwich Road resident explained that the figure on the top tier of the diamond-shaped cake, wholly made of icing, was her interpretation of the Queen’s Jubilee barge.

She added that the design also had a personal touch, as the ornaments decorating the barge had been an heirloom passed down from her mum.

And Meg said her Saturday at the palace, where she was accompanied by daughter Suzanne Wilson to transport her gift by train from Northwich to the Queen’s London residence, was an ‘absolutely brilliant’ day.

“We were there for such a while and it was absolutely charming,” Meg added.

“That day was my Jubilee day.”