THE proof will be in the pudding for a nursery cook as she battles it out to be named star baker today.

Elaine Tuck is going head to head with four other nursery cooks in the national finals of the Nursery Management Today Nursery Awards.

The 50-year-old, of Manor Road North, Itchen, was nominated by her manager at Pixies Day Nursery in Woolston because of her efforts to make the food the children eat healthier and for encouraging them to try new foods and to help in the kitchen.

The mum-of-two and granmother-of-one started working at the nursery 14 years ago and is also a qualified nursery assistant.

Elaine said: “I was actually quite shocked that I’d been nominated. I was overwhelmed.

“I like cooking and I like being in with the children as well so I get the best of both worlds.”

She will cook her popular bean and vegetable hot pot followed by her low-sugar carrot cake in the bake-off in Milton Keynes.