Posted by The Telegraph, UK on June 04, 2010 at 16:06:51:
Little chef with big chance in final of cooking contest
Carla Overton, a teenager, is hoping she will bake her dreams come true after making it through to the final six of a national children's cooking contest.
She beat off competition from 200 young chefs from across the country to bag a place in the final of CookIt!
The Etwall 13-year-old wowed judges with her menu of tuna steak with pea puree and vegetable crème fraiche, followed by chocolate and almond yoghurt cake with berry sauce.
She is now preparing for the final, where she will cook for a panel of judges, including TV chefs Stefan Gates and Valentine Warner.
Carla, who wants to open her own chain of cake shops when she is older, said she hoped her creative cooking would bring her success in the competition. She said: "I've always been interested in baking and I did a lot of that when I was younger with my mum and my grandma.
"Then about a year ago, I started taking cooking a lot more seriously and I've developed a real passion for it.
"I want to either be a chef or have my own cake shops.
"I'm very excited to be in the final and it would be amazing if I won because I just love cooking and baking."
The CookIt! children's competition is open to chefs aged 10 to 14 and run by the Guild of Food Writers, made up of nearly 400 food critics, columnists and celebrity chefs.
The final cook-off takes place at the BBC Good Food Magazine kitchens in London next Thursday.
First prize is a week's family holiday at Boccadon Farm in Cornwall.
Carla said she would be hitting her revision notes, a vast collection of cook books acquired over the last few years.
Carla, of Bellfield Road, said: "I cook every night and the idea for the recipe I put forward came from everything I've cooked over the last few years.
"It's going to be a real challenge in the final and I think I will be nervous when I'm cooking but I've had a lot of practice so hopefully I will be OK."
Her mum, Sandy Demetriou, said: "I really don't know where her cooking skills have come from but they are certainly not from me!
"She absolutely loves being in the kitchen. She has so many cook books that she has read cover to cover and she gets a lot of inspiration from those.
"The fact that she has got this far, to the final six out of about 200, is brilliant and it would be fantastic if she clinched the title."
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