Ooh what lovely cakes....

We were lucky to hear that comment many times over this weekend. Debenhams were running a national campaign to promote their wedding gift list, which included inviting local business to exhibit in an in store wedding fair. We were luck enough to be invited to the Wimbledon event.

I have visited and exhibited at quite a few traditional wedding fairs and have mixed feelings about them, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this event. I was pleasantly surprised though. My stand attracted quite a lot of attention and I had the opportunity to talk to many potential customers.

The trouble with traditional wedding fairs, I find, is that brides and grooms to be are bombarded with so much information and have to repeat their wedding plans to each stand they become a bit dazed by the end of the day. Therefore it was nice this weekend to chat to people who had a fresh perspective on weddings and celebration cakes.

If you are getting married and would like a fabulous cake to compliment your day get in touch with us.
www.especiallydelicious.co.uk

Sarah

And the award goes to.....

Well we'll have to wait until 6th April to find out if we have won another Free From award! I was very excited to receive the news yesterday that we had been shortlisted. This is our third year as part of the free from awards and with the competition in the free from world ever expanding we are chuffed more than ever to be shortlisted this year.

Anthony Worrall Thompson 

presenting my free from Christmas 

cake award (a rather odd pic i know)

The guys at foods matter do a sterling job every year judging free from products and hosting an awards event. Michelle (foods matter head lady) has been writing on her blog about how tough judging has been this year. The main debate amongst the judges, who come from a wide spectrum of food industry experts, being should the more things a product is free of be awarded more points over taste. Our chocolate cupcakes, that are up for the best cake award, are free from gluten, wheat, dairy and eggs and we hope we have scored on both free from and taste.

Fingers crossed!

Sarah

Gluten Free Prescriptions

The debate over gluten free prescriptions seems to be really hotting up as more NHS trusts reduce the amount available or are stopping the entitlement all together. For those of you who are not aware, people diagnosed with Coeliac disease (the autoimmune disease where gluten damages the stomach lining and the only cure is a life long gluten free diet) have been able to get certain gluten free foods on prescription. These are items such as bread, flour, biscuits, pasta etc.

This first came about when gluten free food was almost unheard of in shops and to encourage people to stick to a gluten free diet. However, as NHS budgets continually get cut and more 'free from' food is in everyday stores this is one area that more and more GPs are reluctant to prescribe. 

I can see both sides of the argument but have always tended to side with the view that these prescriptions are outdated and not a necessity in these times. Having a GP as a mum has probably shaped this view and the fact the dog wouldn't even eat the biscuits I used to get on prescription when first diagnosed in 1996! I know not everyone can easily afford 'free from' foods in supermarkets but should that mean that other medicines have to be compromised in order for GPs to be able to prescribe these foods? I think a good solution would be to just have flour mixes, such as bread, cakes, pizza bases etc available to order on prescription for those on low incomes and new to the diet. Hopefully as time goes on the ingredients for gluten free foods will start to come down as demand grows (the main reason why they are twice the price of regular foods) and the need for prescriptions will become less and less. 

What do you think?

Sarah 

First of many

I am very excited to launch our new blog. I will be sharing our news, experiences and all things cakey. I will also be having a gluten free baking tips post once a month. If you have any baking issues you'd like help with please feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to help and share my knowledge on here. 

In this first post I'm going to tell you all about our new gluten free baking courses. These are going to be great, fun filled days, where you will learn how to make delicious bread, pastry, cakes and much more. All recipes gluten free and many dairy free. 

This bread stays soft for three days! 

Yummy sausage rolls, that are very easy to make!

Yes, doughnuts! No longer on the 

I can't eat that list! 

We have classes on the 19th March and 2nd April at a cookery school in Battersea, South West London. Click here to book online today.