Jacinda Ardern celebrates daughter Neve’s birthday with ‘imperfect’ homemade cake

‘There is a jar of lentils propping this thing up’, writes New Zealand prime minister

Jacinda Ardern has celebrated her daughter’s second birthday by making an “imperfect” homemade cake.

On Sunday, the New Zealand prime minister marked the milestone occasion with her partner, Clarke Gayford, at their home in Wellington.

To celebrate, Ardern decided to make her daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, a cake in the shape of a piano using a recipe from the Australian Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book.

The 39-year-old shared a photo of herself posing alongside the finished cake on Instagram and explained it was not as easy to make as she first thought.

“Cake making lesson number two – don’t focus on making the cake look in proportion with little to no attention on structural integrity,” Ardern wrote.

“There is a jar of lentils propping this thing up. Happy Birthday Neve! Thanks for ignoring all of the imperfections in life and just being a joy.”

Despite Ardern’s concerns, hundreds of followers praised her for managing to bake the chocolate cake.

“Prime minister of New Zealand and still able to bake cakes…are you sure you’re not Superwoman,” one person wrote.

Another commented: “We need more leaders like you in the world”, while a third added: “Dear Jacinda, please adopt us.”

This isn’t Ardern’s first time baking a home-made cake for her daughter’s birthday. Last year, the prime minister shared her attempt at making a rabbit-shaped cake for Neve’s first birthday.

“I may be smiling but about an hour earlier I was not enjoying the first birthday cake making experience (like just about every parent I know!),” Ardern wrote at the time.

“I recommend cakes that you can legitimately cover in coconut — it hides almost everything. Happy Birthday wee Neve!”

Ardern and Gayford welcomed their first child together on 21 June 2018. The prime minister became only the second elected world leader to give birth while holding office after late Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto had a daughter, Bakhtawar, in 1990.

The couple shared the news on Instagram alongside a family photo taken at Auckland City Hospital, where Ardern gave birth. “Welcome to our village wee one,” she wrote in the photo caption. “Feeling very lucky to have a healthy baby girl.”