IF boyfriend Glenn Fundrey is running the Simply Cakes stall in Nottingham's Winter Wonderland, you'll know that business owner Catherine Winstanley is back home in Ilkeston topping up her stocks.
Demand for baker girl Catherine's cakes is so great that when she is not selling them in her Christmas cabin in Old Market Square, she's playing catch-up in a white cloud of flour and icing sugar.
"Glenn was here yesterday while I was at home making some more carrot cake," she says.
"I've got one gas oven and one electric oven and I'm moving to a new house where I can have four ovens. And after making do with a couple of KitchenAid mixers I've just bought one than can take 20 litres."
The investment is to satisfy demand for Catherine's range of fruit cakes, sponges, fairy cakes and shortbread, including the swift-selling millionaire's shortbread topped with salted caramel and chocolate.
And this is her busiest time of year in a business calendar dominated by food and drink festivals and outdoor special events. After ten days at Chatsworth Christmas Fair she will be trading in the heart of Nottingham until Christmas Eve and still mounting a stall at Belper Food and Drink Fair on December 7.
"I think I was always quite good at baking," she says. "I baked with my mum when I was a small child."
The bicarb of soda and chocolate ganache went on hold for several years as she studied hospitality at college in Boston and later at the University of Huddersfield and entered the hotel trade.
But her baking instincts would conflict with the demands of a full-time job in hotel sales management and she began developing Simply Cakes only after taking a part-time job with Nottingham-based events company All About Tourism. She finally became a full-time one-woman business last summer.
"Our best-sellers are coffee cake, double chocolate cake and the millionaire's shortbread – it's a rich mixture of butter sugar and flour and once you've got your shortbread you create your caramel, which you boil on the hob for eight minutes. It's a horrible job because you can't stop stirring or it burns on the bottom.
"You let it cool for half and hour, spread it over and then you pour on the melted chocolate."
Other head-turners on Catherine's counter include her chocolate and beer cake, made with Hobgoblin ale from Oxfordshire's Wychwood Brewery, and an offer of hot cake with custard for Christmas shoppers who want a warming energy boost.
And talking of the festive season, mince pies and Christmas cake are also on the menu. In fact there is still time for Catherine to make your very own Christmas cake. They start at £12.95 but if you want tiers you could be paying up to £300.
As usual, Winter Wonderland has its share of burger bars, hog roasts, chestnut kiosks and mushy pea bars. But if you want something a bit different for a hot bite on the spot, no prizes for guessing the meat that goes into I Love Ostrich burgers.
"It's a red meat but with no fat so it's really healthy," said the man with the spatula, Ashley Smith.
"It comes in a toasted wholemeal bun with and you can have a rocket salad with it, and a choice of accompaniments – Jack Daniels onions, Stilton mayo or sweet chilli and garlic mayo."
Alongside the counter is a board containing a healthy eating league table. According to the board, ostrich outpoints skinless chicken, skinless turkey, beef and pork for protein, low fat, low calories and low cholesterol.
If you like some relish with your burger, pickles and preserves specialist The Cherry Tree will have something ready for opening or fit for gift-wrapping. I sampled the Dorest firm's traditional piccalilli (ingredients: 60 per cent vegetables and no funny business) and it was a world apart from the fluorescent yellow swills found on supermarket shelves.
"We came across The Cherry Tree just over a year ago and we were so impressed we asked if we could work with them," said Leicester-based franchisee Peter Gilbert, who is manning the Winter Wonderland stall. You can also buy Cherry Tree produce at The Fruit Bowl in Mapperley.
Peter sells all the usual jams and pickles, but plenty of surprises, too. Like pear and ginger jam, real ale chutney and pina colada curd. To tempt gift buyers, there are savings to be made when you buy three jars and bigger savings when you buy six.
But perhaps the biggest surprises in Winter Wonderland are the greasy spanners, rusting wrenches, horse shoes and nuts and bolts to be found on the stall run by Terry Walker of Edwalton and Jackie Perrons of Cropwell Bishop.
Much as they look like the tools you will find gathering spiders at the back of the garage, these items are, in fact, hand-crafted Belgian chocolates produced by Schokolat, a firm based in Hook, Hampshire.
The "metal" finishes, some with a realistic patina, are created with edible food dye. But aren't they too brilliantly finished to eat?
"Well, these ones have a shelf life until next November, so you could always just admire it for a year and then eat it before buying another one for next Christmas," says Terry.
For more information visit www.simplycakes.co.uk, www.facebook.com/iloveostrich, www.cherrytreepreserves.co.uk and (for Schokolat) www.notonthehighstreet.com
Above: Jackie Perrons and Mike Newbold on the Schockolat stall. Left: Glenn Fundrey with tempting treats on the Simply Cakes stall.
Serving delicious ostrich burgers is Ashley Smith from I Love Ostrich
