According to the Food Standards Agency 1-2% of the UK adult population suffer with a food allergy. For children, this percentage is even higher at between 5 and 8%. This is something I have really noticed since beginning my market stall every Friday in Carmarthen, with a high demand for Gluten or Dairy Free cakes.
We do everything possible to prevent cross contamination at Calon HQ by cooking Gluten Free* cakes first, using separate equipment and storage for our Gluten Free ingredients and cakes and following stringent cleaning and disinfection procedures.
When a customer comes to us with specific dietary requirements we always try our best to accommodate them. A few weeks ago I had my biggest challenge yet, to create a set of Dairy free, Gluten free and refined sugar free cupcakes. How do you make a cake without sugar, flour, butter, milk and icing sugar I hear you cry!
Well, after some experimenting we found that the best results were achieved using Doves Free From Flour, Vegan Vitalite, Coconut sugar and Soya or Almond milk. Luckily, the customer was able to have Stevia so our homemade icing sugar was made from that and Cornstarch. The cupcakes and icing were flavoured with 'So free Organic Dark Chocolate' which is made using raw rather than refined sugar.
We have done a lot of experimenting with different ingredients in terms of flours, sugars and chocolates and now feel that we have hit on a winning combination. If you have a food allergy or intolerance please do not hesitate to get in touch and we will do our very best to accommodate you.
*Please note that due to the fact that we use regular flour in our kitchen at other times we are unable to guarantee 100% that we are totally Gluten Free although we try our very best!