This recipe from the 1800s was found in a thin notebook of hand-written recipes. The author calls them ‘Lemon cheesecakes’. They are a cross between a custard tart and a lemon curd tart.

The original recipe comes from a notebook kept by the Morton family who ran a bakery in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, between 1890 and 1912.

Decorations, toppings and inclusions specialist Nimbus has appointed PAUL COBBET as business development manager, with a brief to open up new markets for the company, particularly within the foodservice sector. Cobbett joins the company after a five-year period at Oury Clark Consulting.

Ingredients and retail products manufacturer Fayrefield FoodTec (Crewe, Cheshire) has developed Geltec egg replacers for use by bakers in place of real eggs. The egg replacers contain functionally enhanced milk proteins and there are different varieties, designed to replace a specific egg product for a specific application.

Anthony Alan (Barnsley, Yorkshire) has developed a ‘healthier’ muffin under the Weight Watchers range, for which it holds the licence.

RHM Foodservice (Reading, Berks) is offering Sharwood’s Lighter ready-to-use sauces, which can be used to create low-fat sandwich fillings. Sharwood’s Korma Lighter, Tikka Masala Lighter and Balti Lighter sauces benefit from 50% less salt, 25% less fat and 25% less sugar than Sharwood’s traditional range, says the firm, yet they retain creamy flavours.

With healthy sandwiches and wraps becoming an increasingly popular choice for a light lunch or snack, General Vending Services (GVS), based in Horley, Surrey, is offering bakers a carousel food machine to vend sandwiches.

Specialist ingredients supplier Zeelandia (Billericay, Essex) is emphasising the benefits of folic acid to consumers’ health at all ages. Ten years ago, Zeelandia launched Balance healthy bread mix, fortified with folic acid and designed for white bread.

Following on from the launch of its reduced salt baguette at the end of last year, Délifrance UK (Wigston, Leics) has launched the DéliVital range, comprising the ‘Vitality’ seeded baguette and the ‘Omega 3’ white baguette.

Cranberry supplier Ocean Spray Ingredient Technology Group has introduced a new version of its sweetened dried cranberry (SDC). The natural juice SDC is claimed by the company to deliver all the health benefits associated with cranberries in an all-natural product.

Capitalising on the vogue for seeded breads, ingredients supplier Bakels’ low Glycaemic Index (GI) Multiseed Bread Mix has been one of the most successful launches in the company’s history, says MD Paul Morrow. He claims that its customers are profiting from the trend towards low-GI products and the point-of-sale promotion conducted by the firm.

There can be no doubt that the modern consumer is the most demanding yet, putting ever more pressure on manufacturers to deliver foods that taste better than ever, but at the same time wanting increasingly complex and effective health benefits. As an everyday food, bread has come increasingly under the critical eye of consumers who, wanting to have their cake and eat it, expect the humble daily slice to be more than just nourishing and wholesome but also to actively improve their health and wellbeing.

This week, for a change, I thought why not write about business and make our editor Sylvia happy? There will be no mention of incompetent, lying, corrupt politicians, or even public-sector employee pension schemes. Instead, I’ll focus on how we should all be more efficient to keep the above in the standard of living they have at our expense.

Confectionery and café chain Thorntons says it has come up with a better way of serving customers hot snacks, such as toasties and paninis, avoiding them standing around waiting or sending staff to find them when the snacks are ready.

The phrase ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’ is a common cliché. But what if you didn’t know what you could have, would you still want it? This apparent paradox underscores a recent shopper panel study, which asked whether people were really happy with the product range at their supermarket in-store bakery (ISB). An emphatic ‘yes’ was the reply from most – that is until picture cards of some of the wondrous breads sold by overseas retailers (but not in the UK) were flashed before them. This lead to hopeful cries of: “Where can we buy them?”

This week’s big news is another big fire (pg 3). Fletchers Bakeries, still owned by Northern Foods though up for sale, appears to have suffered “a catastrophic technical failure” in a processing plant, according to firefighters.

US celebrity Carmen Electra was an unlikely presence at bakery college Brooklands last week, which was hosting a California Raisins-supported workshop for students.

Real Good Food Company is to focus on boosting profitability for the next 18 months, as its Napier Brown sugar division recovers from a drop in volumes at the start of the year. Speaking after the company posted a trading statement last week, chief executive John Gibson said Napier Brown was back on an even keel after a “difficult four months in terms of volume” at the start of 2006.

Bolton’S Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery has launched the first of a planned fleet of breakfast and lunchtime mobile shops. The vehicle sells sandwiches, pies, cakes and drinks to offices and work premises in several of Bolton’s major business parks.

Confectionery company Thorntons said sales for the 52 weeks to 24 June 2006 were down 5.9% to £176.6m compared with £187.7m last year, in a trading update this week. Retail sales were down by 5.3% to £127m after the closure of two stores and like-for-like sales for the full year were down by 3.7%, it said.

AN employment agency has warned that a labour shortage in bakery factories is looming with new gangmasters legislation coming into effect on 1 October. From that date it will become an imprisonable offence to supply labour to the food industry unless the labour provider holds a licence from the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA).

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has called for a government investigation into the impact of minimum wage increases on smaller businesses. The national minimum wage is set to rise 30p to £5.35 an hour from 1 October for employees aged 22 and above. The rates for 18- to 21-year-olds and 16- to 17-year-olds rise to £4.45 and £3.30 an hour respectively.

Wholesaler Bako Western has relocated to a new depot on an industrial estate a mile away from its original site in Cullompton, Devon. The new 40,000sq ft building on the Kingsmill industrial estate has a 1,000 pallet capacity freezer, office space and a test bakery. It is set in a 4.5-acre site, which gives the wholesaler capacity for future expansion, Bako Western told British Baker in a statement.

Coronation Street’s sleazy baker Diggory Compton has shut up his shop in the fictitious town of Weatherfield, due to poor sales.

BRITISH BAKERIES is investing £20m in a relaunch of its Hovis range with new recipes, a new logo, thicker packaging and an advertising campaign to emphasise the brands health credentials.

Cornish pasty company Crantock Bakery has opened its seventh shop in Spain, on the Costa Blanca shores of Puerto de Mazarrón.

A Dublin baker has been left in a critical condition in hospital after being attacked during a raid on the bakery where he worked, writes Hugh Oram. Jimmy Louth works for Clarke’s Bakery on the New Cabra Road in Dublin.

Northern FOODS said it was “taking it day by day” after a massive blaze ripped through Fletchers Bakeries in Sheffield last Sunday. Around 150 workers of the Northern Foods-owned bakery’s 650 staff were on site when the fire started at 10.30am on 16 July. All were evacuated safely.

The name is fantastic, but the original recipe is rather vague about the method and shape of these buns. It comes from Cakes and Confectionery à la Mode by Mrs Harriet De Salis, 1889.

Britain has a rich baking history and there are some surprising tastes to be re-discovered in old recipe books, writes historian Sue Davies. Over the next few weeks, we will be delving into the archives and seeking out recipes up to 200 years old, found in books held by the British Library, the Museum of English Rural Life and Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies. Caraway seed cakes, for instance, were once very common, but have since fallen from favour.

BAKELS (Bicester, Oxon), a supplier of specialist ingredients to the UK bakery market, has relaunched its Sponge Mix Complete range. Both the Plain and Chocolate Sponge Mix Complete have been reformulated as a result of the company’s drive for innovation and emphasis on manufacturing the best products in the market, says the firm. The new improved mixes have been benchmarked against what Bakels customers felt to be the current market leaders.

Kluman & Balter (Waltham Cross, Herts) offers a large range of cake and bread mixes suitable for smaller craft bakeries and larger volume production methods. “The great thing about our premixes is that they can also be used as a base to which extra ingredients can be added for more individual and adventurous lines,” says Kluman & Balter managing director Danny Kluman. “This allows bakers to match their products to the demands of their customers and to create their own signature recipes.”

Quality, variety and convenience are driving the growth in premium baked goods, argues Wirral-based BakeMark. This is forcing bakers to juggle already-stretched resources to meet demand.

“Bakers who do not use confectionery premixes are missing a trick, and if they think premixes are just an alternative to scratch baking, then they should think again.” says Gary Thorns, ingredients technical sales manager, at bakery ingredient specialist Renshaw. He adds: “There is no doubt that by following the instructions on the bag that premixes can make delicious confectionery products, but there is so much more that you can do with them.”

Not every teenager walks away from school with qualifications. For some, it is simply not the right environment for them to learn. As a consequence, many employers are likely to reject their applications for jobs because they do not have the minimum entry requirements – usually GCSEs in English and maths.

Not every teenager walks away from school with qualifications. For some, it is simply not the right environment for them to learn. As a consequence, many employers are likely to reject their applications for jobs because they do not have the minimum entry requirements – usually GCSEs in English and maths.

Work is under way to build a bakery and coffee shop in Aberdeen that will offer adults with learning disabilities the opportunity to train in hospitality and baking.

The entries are in, the judging has begun and preparations are well under way for this year’s Baking Industry Awards evening. Staged at the prestigious Grosvenor House hotel in London on 18 September, the Awards will pay tribute to some of the finest talent that UK bakeries have to offer, from enthusiastic students to this year’s Baker of the Year, often a seasoned individual. Three finalists in each category will be called up to the stage to receive their certificates and, in the case of the winner, a £500 cheque and trophy from a celebrity host.

Inter Link Foods and Finsbury Food Group, both reveal they are on missions to improve efficiency in their business this week. The two companies are profitable, but say trading conditions are “challenging” in the cake market. They say they want to control costs – read “reduce prices”.

English craft bakers have reported themed lines proved popular during the recent England World Cup tournament, although trade was down during England matches. Gary Reeve, MD of Reeve the Baker, based in Salisbury, said his nine shops offered World Cup novelties, including biscuits with an iced football strip, George Cross muffins and Belgian buns, with an iced George Cross instead of a cherry.

PRIVATE equity firm Doughty Hanson is selling its remaining 26.6% stake in RHM, following its flotation of the food group last July.

Leading Irish artisan bakery My Own bakery in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, has been sold by Siobhan Walsh, the woman who started the business five years ago, writes Hugh Oram. Walsh sold the business for an undisclosed sum to a Dublin-based food processing company, CWK Food Processing of Baldoyle, Dublin. The owner of CWK Jim Kilbride said he intends to run the bakery along its present lines,without making major changes.

Leading Irish artisan bakery My Own bakery in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, has been sold by Siobhan Walsh, the woman who started the business five years ago, writes Hugh Oram. Walsh sold the business for an undisclosed sum to a Dublin-based food processing company, CWK Food Processing of Baldoyle, Dublin. The owner of CWK Jim Kilbride said he intends to run the bakery along its present lines,without making major changes.

The total area sown to cereals in Great Britain over the last season shows a slight increase says the 2006 HGCA Planting Survey, the first full estimate of plantings for the 2006 harvest. The results indicate that wheat and oats plantings are slightly up on last year, although barley and oilseed rape are both slightly down.

The National Association of Master Bakers (NA) has welcomed a government decision that Sunday trading legislation is to remain unchanged.

Leicester-based Coombs Quality Bakery has blamed a high street downturn and the burden of legislation after calling in the administrators on July 3. The third-generation company closed five of its 17 shops immediately after calling in the administrators, but hopes to sell the remaining outlets and the central bakery as a going concern.

Scottish wholesale and retail baker Murdoch Allan has been chosen from around 400 suppliers as Asda’s Local Supplier of the Year 2006. It was awarded the title in recognition of its high-quality products, excellent customer focus and level of service at a recent Asda local sourcing conference in Leeds.

Associated British Foods (ABF) is proposing to close British Sugar’s York and Allscott beet sugar factories after the end of the 2006/7 campaign, leaving it with four UK factories. George Weston, chief executive of ABF, said the move will boost efficiency: “We intend ultimately to produce more sugar from four UK factories than we currently produce from six.”

Cake giant Inter Link says it plans to create four major production hubs in the UK and one in Poland, as it modernises its business. In a few years, Inter Link, which currently has 10 UK bakery businesses and one in Poland, hopes to have consolidated activities to five large hubs, including Blackburn, Trafford Park in Manchester and Poland, chief executive Paul Griffiths revealed to British Baker.

The format for this year’s inaugural mid-summer ball in aid of the Bakers Benevolent Society was that of an old traditional English ball with a modern twist. The evening was a success and put the event firmly back on the baking industry’s social calendar.

The ISA Dialog multi-deck chilled cabinet is a new collection featuring the latest refrigeration technology and energy efficiency characteristics.

“Blended iced drinks can account for as much as 40% of a chain café bar’s sales in the hot summer months,” says Gary McGann, general manager of Espresso Warehouse (Glasgow, Scotland).

Beverage-making equipment supplier Marco Beverage Systems (London) is launching a range of small-batch filter coffee brewers called Filtro.

Food Design (Harrogate, North Yorks) has recently launched brightly-coloured sprinkles to introduce colour, texture and flavour to cappuccino.

The Italian Beverage Company (IBC), based in Borehamwood, Herts, has come up with a new way of making hot chocolate, based on its DROPissimo chocolate drop brand. The specially formulated chocoalte drop, made from Belgian chocolate, is suitable for blending into hot milk to produce a chocolate drink.

Coburg Coffee Company is relaunching two of its major brands this year, Langdons of London and Giovanni Rizzi. The company has redesigned the brands to give them a more modern look.

Juice Doctor is a new, natural fruit drink backed by Olympic champion Sir Steve Redgrave designed to combat dehydration, which it says affects two out of three people.

Nestlé Foodservices (Croydon) is introducing the Nescafé Accolade Platinum Colibri, a table-top vending unit that dispenses latte, cappuccino, hot chocolate and other premium speciality drinks.

The Drury Tea & Coffee Company (London) unveiled its latest range of espresso coffees using the Rancilio Classe 8 Tall machine, imported by associate firm The Coffee Machine Company at the inaugural Caffé Culture exhibition in May.

Apuro (Solihull, West Midlands) is introducing a technologically advanced double milk shaker and frappé machine, which it says is aimed at satisfying demand for increasingly sophisticated drinks in today’s café society.

Nescafé.go is a quick and convenient way to serve branded hot beverages, says the firm. The range includes all-in-one varieties of cappuccino, black coffee, white coffee, white decaff coffee, hot chocolate and Tetley tea.

“There is a gap in the market for a radical alternative to ordinary soft drinks,” says Guy Woodall, founder and chairman of Thorncroft Drinks (Surrey). “Soft drinks are perceived as unhealthy and there is good reason for this. They may have as much as 15% sugar an/or be full of artificial colour, flavours or sweeteners. There is room for a whole new category which caters for thirsty people who cannot stand colas, find standard soft drinks too cloying and water too boring.”

The biggest sales gains in soft drinks last year came from those perceived to be healthier, such as water, juices and dairy drinks, but cola is still the largest sub-category. Jason Roots, sales manager at Bako London, says Coca-Cola and Diet Coke continue to be the best-sellers, but other drinks are making gains. “We have noticed growing sales of water, flavoured waters, juices and smoothies, but the biggest trend is a move away from cans into bottles – and this is good news for retailers, as bottles sell for more than cans,” he says.

It was panic stations in March when the Food Standards Agency (FSA) pressed the alarm over soft drinks on sale in Britain that contained the cancer-causing chemical benzene. Although only a handful of drinks were affec-ted, the ensuing negative publicity heaped more woes on the soft drinks industry, which has seen sales of fizzy drinks already hit this year.

Located at the heart of the Lake District, family craft baker and confectioner Bryson’s prides itself on preserving tea-time traditions, serving regular customers and tourists to the popular region.

In a classic moment in satirical cartoon The Simpsons some years ago, Bart walks into a typical shopping mall, walking past a couple of Starbucks coffee houses and into a shop: Sales clerk: “Can I help you?” Bart: “I’d like to get my ears pierced.” Sales clerk: “Better make it quick, kiddo, in five minutes this place is becoming a Starbucks!”

It was a marvellous summer’s day. The sun shone, the Champagne flowed, London landmarks such as the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and the portals of the National Gallery shimmered in the bright light.

You have just over a week left to enter the California Raisin Administrative Committee’s (CRAC) competition to find innovative uses of its raisins.

The Bakers, Food & Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) has launched a survey with British Bakeries and Northern Foods of workers’ ethnicity and languages. The aim of the study is to produce guidance for migrant workers and for firms keen to boost health and safety and efficiency.

The end of August should see new production capacity coming on stream at miniature cake producer Greetings for Eating, as part of a £500,000 expansion funded partly by new investors.

distributor Bako North Western is to launch a customer loyalty scheme claimed to be worth an average £40 a month to customers. The Plus Reward Points scheme will cover special offers by Bako North Western’s suppliers, which will pay for the scheme. All the firm’s 2,500 customers will be entered for the scheme automatically when buying special offers, after the scheme goes live next month.

A WARBURTONS bakery lorry caught fire while it was parked in Bolton. An electrical fault in the driver’s cab sparked the blaze, which spread to the bread in the trailer. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

The widely known Sadie Chandley, who founded the Manchester-based oven manufacturer Tom Chandley with her husband Tom, has died aged 97.

Four baking professionals previously employed by Rathbones Bakery and Harvestime have begun making ‘premium’ crumpets at a factory in Carlisle, Cumbria. Initial production by Lakeland Bake is being frozen off-site for distribution mainly to expatriates in places such as Cyprus, Spain and Malta, said one of the company’s founders, Nigel McKerr. “It’s largely an untapped market,” he said.

THE planned restructuring of the five agricultural and horticultural levy boards, including the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), promises a more focused, efficient and cross-sector approach to industry issues, said Jonathan Cowens, HGCA chief executive.

The RHM group trumpeted “a significantly improved trading performance” in the second half of the year to 29 April. The full year pre-tax profit fell to £7.4m from £63.7m the year before.

Marshfield BAKERY’S production of cakes and snack bars for the Christmas rush should begin by early September in new premises, which are currently being built. The company is investing about £180,000 of its own money to take on larger orders, as well as targeting further orders in the foodservice market to reduce the seasonal ups and downs of its business, said sales and marketing director Ben White.

Biscuit company Furniss of Cornwall could have a new owner within days, predicted the administrator Ian Walker, who last month took charge of the business when it went into administration.

The Christmas period alone demonstrates the importance of marzipan in celebration cakes, as shelves and shelves of marzipan are sold, says ingredients manufacturer Zeelandia (Billericay, Essex).

I’ve taken block chocolate out of this recipe as it adds cost rather than value to the muffins.

Dripping with sharp lemon icing, these chewy, fruit-studded ginger Chelsea buns will introduce your customers to one of the more unusual grain varieties in Britain.

The rapid pace of change in food trends means there is a danger that some British baking traditions will get lost in the rush to innovate.

This recipe is similar to one of the first breads I made when I worked at the Chester Grosvenor Hotel. It goes particularly well with cheese.

Tempo, a local Cypriot supermarket, asked me to help them reduce the “crust” of wrapped and sliced box bread used for sandwiches, which was being baked for 30 minutes at 240ºC. Then the heat was turned off and the bread left in the oven for a further 30 minutes.