Queen of cakes Mary Berry receives CBE from Prince Charles after more than 40 years helping the nation bake

• Mrs Berry, 77, says she is 'immensely honoured' to receive the accolade 
• Charles hosted the investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in place of the Queen who pulled out to rest a sore back
• As a child Mrs Berry was not academically gifted but in domestic science lessons she discovered her love of cooking and pursued it as a career

By Emily Allen
PUBLISHED: 15:27, 12 October 2012 | UPDATED: 18:05, 12 October 2012 

Award: Mary Berry has received the icing on the cake in the form of a CBE awarded by the Prince of Wales

The doyen of British baking Mary Berry has received the icing on the cake in the form of a CBE awarded by the Prince of Wales.
The much loved cookery writer said she is 'immensely honoured' to receive the accolade that marked a career writing recipes and preparing meals for the nation for more than 40 years.
Charles hosted the investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in place of the Queen who pulled out to rest a sore back as she would have been standing for the hour-long event.
Mrs Berry, 77, said she was pleased to meet the Prince for the first time: 'This is a lovely finale to the year and I’m immensely honoured and proud to be here but I could not have done it without the support of my family and friends.'
She has become a household name to a new generation of cake lovers thanks to her role as a judge, alongside Paul Hollywood, in the BBC’s popular show The Great British Bake Off.
The highly anticipated series final will be broadcast next Tuesday when remaining contestants John Whaite, Brendan Lynch and James Morton battle it out for the title.
Asked about the show’s appeal, she said: 'This is not a hyped-up programme. It’s totally sincere. We aim to get people baking and to enjoy it and to further their skills.
'It’s very tough but they are friendly to each other and we encourage them, we don’t want to make them cry.
'I think the audience enjoy it because it’s fun, and they get attached to the characters who, although they are competing and dying to win, they still help the person next to them and borrowing spoons and things.'
As a child Mrs Berry was not academically gifted but in domestic science lessons she discovered her love of cooking and pursued it as a career.
After studying cooking in France at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school and in the UK she worked for a number of food industry bodies and got her big break when she stepped in to write the recipe pages of Housewife magazine when its cookery editor was away.

 

She specialises in Aga cookery, cakes and desserts, and teaches Aga cookery courses at her home in Buckinghamshire. 
Her first cookbook, The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, was published in 1970 and she has gone on to write more than 50 others which have sold millions around the world, including the Classic Aga Cookbook and Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook.
Regular appearances on television and radio followed and she has remained a favourite with audiences down the decades.
She often makes guest appearances on Woman's Hour, had a regular cookery slot on BBC Radio 2's Debbie Thrower Programme, and she takes part in local radio phone-in programmes.
Mary has been cookery editor of Ideal Home and was a member of the Council of Food from Britain.

Family affair: Mary Berry, with son Tom Hunnings, husband Paul and daughter Annabel Bosher, after she became a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle

Star: The Great British Bake Off with Sue Perkins, Mel Giedroyc, Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry

Meanwhile, a former RAF Chinook helicopter pilot emulated his grandfather when he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross by Charles.
Jon Singh, an ex-Flight Lieutenant, landed his aircraft safely in Afghanistan after it was raked by insurgent gunfire that left it almost unflyable, with a round passing inches from his right foot.
His maternal grandfather, Flying Officer David Bhore, was presented with the same military honour in 1944 for flying reconnaissance missions for the Royal Indian Air Force over Burma during the Second World War.
Mr Singh, 32, from Bristol, whose mother is English while his father is Indian, played down his actions and said: 'It was putting into practice hours and hours of training. It was not just me there were four of us there, it was a crew effort.'

Mary Berry on television in 1979 explaining how to cook roast turkey at Christmas and also how to carve

Describing the military operation he took part in during June last year, the former pilot, who is now studying for a masters in international relations, said: 'We were carrying Royal Marines and their job was to fight their way into a compound where the Taliban was manufacturing IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that cause so much havoc.
'We started coming under fire as we were coming in to land, we were hit several times whilst on the ground.
'Normally flying the Chinook is like driving a car with power steering but this was like driving a bus without power steering, one of the rounds had damaged the controls, we had lost a couple of other systems, but the most critical was the damage to the controls which meant the physical flying was very difficult.'
The Chinook limped to a Nato base around 10 miles from the compound and landed safely in a field.
'There was a question of how we were going to fly, and to where we were going to fly, but we were relatively calm.' Mr Singh added, laughing: 'I’ve listened back to the (cockpit) recording and there’s only one swear word - but right at the end.'
Speaking about his grandfather, who died when he was a boy, he said: 'He was from that generation that didn’t really talk about the war so it’s only in the last few months I’ve really found out more.'