You might not want to buy your man flowers this Valentine’s Day, but you can always shower him with cupcakes instead. He’ll love them, says Sharon Griffiths.

WHEN Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw nibbled a pink cupcake from the New York Magnolia Bakery, scattering a sprinkling of crumbs down her chin, she sparked a mini revolution.

Suddenly it was okay to eat cake.

You could be slim and elegant and still sink your teeth into a confection of sponge cake, icing and sprinkly decorations. Cupcakes are cool. And they are such an affordable treat.

You might not be able to buy Carrie’s Jimmy Choos – but a cupcake is such a small and perfect indulgence.

“It’s fun and something you can have all to yourself,” says Christine Clark, founder of The Anticipation, one of the newest cupcake companies in the region.

Christine, from Pittington, near Durham, has made cakes all her life – “ever since I was tiny in my grandmother’s kitchen, helping her make wonderful old-fashioned cakes”.

Although she started work at Northern Rock, she changed careers, did a City and Guilds professional course and then trained as a teacher, taking her final exam five weeks before her son was born. He’s 19 now and chief cake-tester when he’s home.

For the past 12 years, Christine has been teaching cookery at East Durham College, Peterlee, but is now reinventing herself as the cupcake queen, specialising in everything from wedding creations to boxes for delivery.

“I love baking. To me it’s not a chore, but a pleasure and very therapeutic, so it was a fairly obvious business idea really,” she says.

Remember “say it with flowers”?

Well, Christine says it with cupcakes, with boxes of cakes delivered throughout the North-East.

“The boxes cost about the same as a bouquet, but they’re more versatile than flowers, more of a treat,” says Christine, who “delivers deliciousness”

within a 20-mile radius of Durham, including Darlington and Newcastle.

Her cakes are made with the finest ingredients – free-range eggs, organic flour, unrefined sugar, unwaxed lemons, Green & Blacks chocolate.

She has done further professional training at Slatterys patisserie and chocolatiers, in Manchester.

She has decorations for every occasion, including little rocking horses and rattles for baby showers or Christenings; handbags and shoes for Sex and the City parties; golf and footballs for the chaps – who tend to go for the chocolate cakes.

“You can send a box of cakes to men in an office where you probably wouldn’t send them flowers,” says Christine.

Other cakes come with a wide variety of pretty toppings, including one that looks just like a hydrangea.

At the moment, sponge flavours are vanilla, lemon or chocolate, with more to come. Toppings are light buttercream with fondant decorations.

For weddings she will make a small top tier of iced sponge cake, or a traditional marzipanned fruit cake and then have tiers of cupcakes, with each one looking very bridal in a white lacy wrapper.

“Young people aren’t so keen on traditional wedding cakes any more, but this is a good way to appeal to all tastes,” she says.

Customers for the delivery scheme include mothers sending boxes of cakes to homesick students. Just the thing. When a box of pretty little cupcakes lands at your door, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to smile.

Thank you Christine. And thank you Carrie Bradshaw.

■ The Anticipation cupcake company theanticipation.co.uk Tel: 0191-3720-748. Cakes are delivered in black or ivory boxes with contrasting ribbon. Three days’ notice for delivery please.

Box of nine costs £18, box of 16 costs £30. Delivery charge: £3.95 within ten miles of Durham; £4.95 within 20 miles of Durham.

Bouquets of the Week

Neville Shaw, of Brandon, Durham, would like to thank his mum for her care while he was ill recently.

He says it was quite frightening as he had a bad asthma attack and she had to phone for an ambulance, but she was there for him throughout. Well done, mum.

Geoffrey Gregg, from Tursdale, County Durham, would like to nominate Jamie Rotherham, at Higginbottom’s chemist, Main Street, Ferryhill.

“He’s so helpful, always pleasant, always has time for you and is very informative. It’s so nice to have proper, friendly service.

“He’s the boss at the chemist’s, though he’s only a young chap, and all the staff are nice so it must be rubbing off.” Well done to Mr Rotherham and his staff.

■ If you want to say a public thank you for good service or to a helpful neighbour, kind stranger or efficient business, write with all the details to Jenny Needham, Bouquet of the Week, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF, or email jenny.needham@nne.co.uk