We have many people ask us about shelf life, storage and delivery of our vegetable cakes.

These are great questions that I wanted to write about, why because there are many factors with vegetable cakes.

I always say to people when I speak to them, is, when you make a traditional cake with butter and sugar and eggs, is that, when we melt butter it obviously goes runny then over a period solidifies again, so imagine this in a cake, your butter melts into the cake then when it cools it goes hard.

A homemade sponge cake will only last a couple of days before it starts to go dry and hard, one factor is because the butter is hardening with the other ingredients.

Vegetable cakes are completely different, you do need to think about them as a cake with a twist.  With our cakes they have high moisture content as the vegetables are the largest ingredient, which is obviously why we can say they can contribute to one of your five a day, our main ethos and why you can have a cake that has some nutritional value.

Our cakes are homemade with the homemade touch without any added preservatives, keeping them as wholesome as possible.

But with this does come with some compromise.  Nothing is ever simple is it?

If we buy a cake from a supermarket it will be full of additives and preservatives, which will ensure that the cakes have a long shelf life.

We can’t give you that, your cake from Blackberry Cottage will not last week’s/months or even a year from now.

We give our cakes a 4 to 7 day shelf life depending on the cake, we often get asked “why so short”, well several reasons.

As mentioned before the vegetables are the largest ingredient which means they have greater moisture content than a normal cake, so instead of going hard and dry like a normal cake they are more likely to go mouldy.

Also it depends on weather conditions, hot and humid, cold and wet, storage conditions, fridge or larder.  We do recommend the following with our cakes, it  is advisable to for them to be eaten sooner, however if you do want to keep them for a few days, we recommend you store them in a cool dark dry place; they can be stored in a fridge, but take them out before eating to come up to room temperature.

If you do want to keep them for longer, freezing them is a great alternative, they all freeze really well for up to 3 months, take them out at least 3 hours before needed.

If cakes are required for a specific date, please make contact with me to discuss we like our cakes to be in the best condition.

If you are having cakes delivered, we would prefer to have someone there to take in the delivery, or to have them delivered to your work place.  If this isn’t possible and they have to go back to the Post Office, please remember to collect them as soon as possible.  We cannot be held responsible for third party deliveries as this will all affect the shelf life of your cake when you receive it.