WORDS: DEBBIE CODD. PHOTOGRAPHS: GEOFF FENNEY
CELEBRATION CAKES Imagine spending all your time thinking and talking about cake, dreaming up delicious recipes and show-stopping designs. It sounds like something out of Roald Dahl’s book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. But that’s exactly what Jill Downs does as head of development for Finsbury Foods, who produce celebration cakes for us. Like a modern-day Willy Wonka, she works closely with our experts and her own team of chefs and cake designers to make sure our shelves are always stocked with the fnest celebration cakes. So how do they do it? Jill says, ‘We take inspiration from the latest trends in all sorts of places, from fashion catwalks and foristry, to kids’ toys and new technology. Looking at what’s popular helps spark new ideas for our cakes.’
Bestsellers
Jill’s team currently help produce 56 diferent types of celebration cake for us. She explains, ‘As well as creating our own themes for designs, we make Disney cakes and ones featuring popular kids’
characters like Spider-Man and Hello Kitty. Our most popular cakes at the moment include a Disney Princess one and the Chosen by you Mega Chocolate Cake – a big chocolate cake with lots of actual chocolates on top!’ When it comes to making the cakes, Jill insists on the best ingredients. She says, ‘All our cakes are made just as you’d make them at
‘All our cakes are made just as you’d make them at home, from scratch, so they taste as good as if you’d baked them yourself’ home, from scratch, so they taste as good as if you’d baked them yourself. ‘For us, it’s all about having the best quality ingredients. We always put the cakes through a taste panel, too. We’re after a great texture for the sponge and a nice balance of favours with the flling. How the cake looks is also very important, to kids and parents. It has to be a special cake that you can bring out with birthday
candles on, then cut up and put in party bags.’
Finishing touch
Importantly, almost all of the cakes are hand-fnished. Jill says, ‘We have an in-house training school where our team learn new ways to decorate cakes. For example, with our Clyde the Caterpillar Cake the sweets are placed by hand, not machine, and the face is hand-made, too. Lots of work goes into each one.’
We love…
Nostalgia works really well for teatime cakes, with designs inspired by things like old-style sweeties. Other trends we’ve been looking at include lace and forals.
Chosen by you Happy Birthday Cake, £8.50 (serves 16)
Chosen by you Vanilla Traybake, £10 (serves 40)
Just like fashion, cake themes go in and out of style. Here, Jill reveals what’s hot this season… Two of the big cake trends right now are nostalgia and American infuence. For the American trend, we created a huge cupcake that looks like an icecream sundae.
Chosen by you Clyde the Caterpillar Cake, £4.98 (serves 12)
Chosen by you All American Ice Cream Sundae Cake, £12 (serves 24)
Disney Princess Birthday Cake, £20 (serves 34)
JULY 2014 | ASDA.COM/MAGAZINE | 21