Telegraph Weekend, 26 November, 2005

CUSTARD ART

Kate Robinson visits a Dorset-based cake maker At first glance, Honeybuns, the artisan bakery, looks like an animal refuge and, with three dogs, three horses, two goats and a voluble 36-year-old donkey, it has often been mistaken as such. Run by the aptly named Emma Goss-Custard and her husband, Matt, the award-winning Dorset-based bakery, which now has a permanent staff of 14, began life in student digs in Oxford in 1998, with a post-office bike as the delivery vehicle. Emma, 33, whose love of baking stemmed from watching her mother at the Aga, decided not to enter law or the City like her peers, but to start a business selling her own freshly-made sandwiches and cakes, supplying local businesses and patisseries. After cycling 100 miles a week to meet demand, she eventually moved to Guildford to be with Matt and rented a studio on an industrial estate. "But it was too manufactured and anonymous," she says. Three years later, the couple bought Naish Farm, tucked away in a corner of Dorset, with a crumbling, listed farmhouse and extensive outbuildings that could be converted into a bakery. Armed with recipes from her mother and grandmother, Emma has established an extensive range of deliciously decadent products. Many are gluten-free (polenta is used instead of wheat), owing to their Provencal and Italian provenance. But flavour, rather than catering for people with food allergies, is the priority here. "Although 90 per cent of our products are gluten-free and every product is wheat-free, this is incidental," says Emma. "Our main priority is taste."

Let them eat cake: Emma Goss-Custard; some Honeybuns produce

Even so, the success of the cakes among the gluten-intolerant has inspired her to launch gluten-free cookery courses where "people are spoilt rotten". Endless nibbles are provided, such as Honeybuns's best-selling milk chocolate brownie, made with Belgian milk chocolate, ground almonds, farmhouse butter and local free-range eggs, as well as a takeaway goodie box. Judging by the enthusiastic response to the courses, the gluten-free element is the star attraction. More and more people now suffer from wheat and gluten intolerances, according to Emma, and the substitutes used at Honeybuns, such as ground almonds, hazelnut and polenta, will often convert even the hardiest flour fanatic. Added extras such as toasted pecan nuts and lemon frangipane toppings make the cakes even more difficult to resist.

Honeybuns makes good use of regional ingredients, using organic wherever it benefits the recipe. The eggs come from a farm two miles away, the butter is from Bridport and even the heather honey comes from a local beekeeper. For non-indigenous ingredients, such as ground almonds, local wholesalers are used.

Emma and Matt not only support the local economy, but are philanthropic and community spirited. Each year, as part of an ongoing commitment to the village, they hold a rural festival or "Bee Hop", with proceeds going towards the church roof. They have a "Bee Shack" tearoom, which opens on the first Friday of every month and is often loaned to the village as a venue. Other Honeybuns beneficiaries include local schools and animal charities, as well as Hackney City Farm, a community project in London.

When asked about the future, Emma is refreshingly down to earth. So long as the business remaains vibrant and interesting, there are no plans to change things. "Our sourcing is meticulous, but the main thing is that we don't just work for profit. Instead we have a holistic approach that is governed by living on site," she says. "It is not rocket science, we are just making nice stuff. We don't want to bang on about the quality - that should be obvious. We just do our bit and have fun."

For the sake of good, honest, home-baked food, let's hope they continue.

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