There's nothing wrong with a sponge, but why stop there?

I have been chasing my tail all week, finishing orders and meeting clients, but tiredness can never get quite so tight a grip when the sun is shining and the birds are singing outside. What has been genuinely lovely this week, is the number of clients who have got in touch to let me know how thrilled they have been with the cakes I have made for them. What I find particularly pleasing is how much they emphasise the taste as well as the look, because that's really why I started this business in the first place. I wanted to give people a place to go where they didn't have to stick to choosing between two types of sponge or a fruit cake, but where they could come for a real and thoughtful selection. I love to create new and special flavours and to be set a challenge. This must be why Victoria's Cake Boutique has 157 different chocolate cakes on the books, and that's before any other flavour. I love nothing more than inventing a new recipe, or finding a way to create delicious cakes for clients with allergies, that go beyond just substituting wheat flour for gluten-free or using oil instead of butter. They have to be created with these needs in mind, otherwise you inevitably end up compromising the taste or texture of the cake whose original recipe you altered. Taste is everything to Victoria's Cake Boutique because we can't see the point of a beautifully decorated lump of nothing and because we love flavour and don't want to bother eating anything that doesn't quite hit the mark.
With all the wonderful feedback we've received over the years in mind, I thought I'd nudge my readers in the direction of The Observer Food Monthly Awards 2010, which are now open for voting and which include categories for Best independent shop or retailer and Best food blog (UK based). You can vote here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/observer-food-monthly-awards. Just saying...