Budding Hornchurch baker with rare condition creates dessert for high-street restaurant to raise money for charity

A teenage baker from Hornchurch who has a rare kidney condition has created her own dessert to be sold in a high-street restaurant to raise money for charity.

Great Ormond Street Hospital patient Niamh Bowdler, 17, joined expert chef Theo Randall, to create a new dessert which will feature on ASK Italian’s menu until June 11.

Niamh, from Hornchurch, helped to create the new white chocolate fondue and supported chef Theo Randall to select the tasty flavour combination of baked sweet dough sticks, served with white chocolate fondue, milk chocolate crumbs and crushed pistachio nuts.

This was the second time she’s joined the expert chef after she helped to create her own pizza for ASK in 2014 to help raise funds for GOSH Charity.

Niamh has a very rare kidney condition and has been visiting Great Ormond Street Hospital regularly for treatment for over 10 years.

Sales of the dessert she helped to create will raise money for GOSH Charity with ASK Italian making a donation for every dessert sold.

This is part of the restaurant brands support for Bake it Better, GOSH Charity’s campaign which encourages people across the UK to hold a cake sale to help raise money for the hospital.

Niamh said: “It’s really exciting to see the dessert I helped to create on the menu! It was a really fun afternoon meeting Theo again and tasting lots of different options, I think we made the right choice and I hope everyone enjoys it!”

ASK Italian is encouraging customers around the UK to support GOSH Charity’s ‘Bake it Better campaign and hold a bake sale to support seriously ill children.

The company has already raised £1 million for GOSH Charity, as a result of four years of fundraising events, activities and initiatives across all of its UK restaurants.

The company’s support of the ‘Bake it Better’ campaign kickstarts their efforts to raise another £1 million towards vital parent accommodation facilities close to the hospital.

This accommodation is so important as it provides a home away from home for families whose children are receiving critical care.

Amit Aggarwal, Director of corporate partnerships at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity said: “We are delighted that ASK Italian is getting behind GOSH Charity’s Bake it Better campaign and we would like to say an enormous thank you to their staff and customers for choosing Niamh’s dessert and for their support.

“All the money raised will support seriously ill children and will make a real difference to families like Niamh’s.”

The Bake it Better campaign takes place between May 21-27, with GOSH Charity inviting budding bakers to whip out their aprons, unravel the bunting and bake up some tempting treats to sell at home, in the office, at school or in their community.