Try This - The Oxford Bakehouse

Right folks, pause the telly, put down that cuppa, tell the other half to shush.... I'm gonna be talking CAKE!

Cupcakes have been big business for some time now and, according to some sources, start-ups in the cake-making industry have doubled in a year. There are plenty of cake making businesses in and around Oxford, in fact when I searched the Yellow Pages I received a whopping 58 hits for Oxfordshire alone, so it's a pretty competitive industry.

If you want to succeed in such a competitive industry you need an edge; The Oxford Bakehouse have got this covered though, specialising in gluten, wheat and dairy free. As you can imagine, I was more than happy to sample some complimentary cupcakes recently when they offered to drop some by... tough gig, eh?!

Run by Oxford locals, Rachel and Sarah, The Oxford Bakehouse was started earlier this year with both Mum's on maternity leave. The fledgling business currently have a range of cupcakes and mini cupcakes available for ordering on-line, but is also able to provide cakes to your own specification. All are dairy free, and are available as wheat and gluten free, or not; all home made in their very own kitchens.

On this particular occasion, I was sampling two types of wheat and gluten free cupcakes: Minty Fresh (dark chocolate sponge with a mint green flavour topping) and The Classic Cupcake (vanilla sponge with a classic buttercream topping).... You hate me already don't you?

So, firstly, can you tell the difference with wheat & gluten free? Honestly, I wouldn't have had a clue if I hadn't been told in advance, so I think that's a pretty big compliment. Both the Classic and Minty Fresh cupcakes were incredibly light, tasty and moorish (I finished the last one yesterday and am craving them already!). The Classic was just that, a classic sponge with vanilla flavour topping - traditional but always popular; I'm less of a cake traditionalist myself but MrF loves a good Victoria sponge, so this was his favourite of the two. For me, Minty Fresh was king - delicious brownie-like base, with a refreshing minty topping.... GORGEOUS!!

I think they did the right thing by using a denser chocolate base for the Minty Fresh, as the mint would be too overpowering with a lighter base; as it is, it works really well... in fact this is the one I'm getting withdrawal symptoms from!

I'm looking forward to checking out some of their other flavours, in particular 'Strawberries & Cream' (vanilla sponge with a pink strawberry flavour topping), 'Zingy Lemon' (lemon & coconut sponge with a zingy lemon topping) and 'Crunchy Carrot' (carrot & pecan sponge with a cream cheese topping). Other flavours are available though so do check their website for details.

All cupcakes are available for collection or delivery (delivery is free within a 5 mile radius of Headington, Oxford; charges will apply outside of this), and are priced at 6 for £10, 12 for £19, or 24 for £38; but do remember they can also provide bespoke celebration cakes.

So will I be choosing gluten free again? Where possible, yes; it did feel much lighter and left me without a 'weighed down' feeling that can often come with eating rich baked goods. So off I go to dream of mint chocolate cupcakes, not a combination I would have ever chosen before, but one I will certainly continue to crave. 

The Oxford Bakehouse
Twitter: @OxfordBakehouse
Facebook: @TheOxfordBakehouse
Website: www.theoxfordbakehouse.co.uk
Phone: 07920149117 / 07875531364