Region wants to have its cake AND eat it... as Britain’s ‘Capital of Cake’
Scheme aims to promote wide variety of North Yorks slices
Chris Mollon, from Ravenscar Tearooms, which is owned by his parents Pat and Gary, said: “We thought it was a good idea to be part of something like this. We’ve been here 10 years and my mum makes her own cakes so we thought it was about time we shouted about it.”
Mr Mollon puts the popularity of the sweet treat down to it being an affordable luxury, as well as it playing a major part on popular TV shows such as The Great British Bake Off.
“My mum makes Ravenscar tea loaf which is like a Welsh brack. This sells really well and is lovely with butter,” he added.
“We get a lot of walkers and cyclists who have often earned a slice of cake - it’s a nice treat.”
Sally Middlewood has owned her tearoom and bakery at Potter Brompton for 30 years and makes all her own cakes.
She said: “I signed up to it as I thought it would help put us on the map. All our cakes are handmade here on the premises using our own free range eggs from our hens.
“We do a cake of the day, which is always very popular - particularly our gooey lemon curd cake. Having afternoon tea is the new high tea, it’s very fashionable at the moment.”
The tourism initiative has been backed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Elizabeth Truss.
She said: “I support the Capital of Cake. A decent cup of Yorkshire Tea and slice of cake are two great reasons to visit the North York Moors. The more people visit, the more they will realise that our national parks offer so much besides their beauty. Tourism is massively important to the parks which are a cornerstone of our £210 billion rural economy.”
Local businesses are now being invited to spread the Capital of Cake message as widely as possible through social media, linking their own website to www.capitalofcake.com and distributing promotional postcards.
The postcards are available from the two North York Moors National Park Centres at Danby and Sutton Bank, tourist information centres at Whitby, Scarborough and Pickering and the North York Moors National Park Authority office in Helmsley.