A traditional Northumberland bakery has enjoyed its best year of trading in its 18-year history. Haltwhistle-based Border Homebake, which specialises in traditional tray bakes, was launched by Justine Carruthers in a disused dairy building, and now employs 12 staff, turning over £200,000 a year.

The business delivers to independent stores and cafés, mainly in the North East, Cumbria, and Yorkshire, and recently began supplying 12 Morrisons stores across the North East.

Carruthers is confident that she will win a contract with another supermarket chain this year. She said: “The recession has helped, as maybe everyone has decided to cheer themselves up by eating cakes. We are working flat out to keep up with the demand.”

The company has started individually wrapping some products in response to customer demand, and it now brands all products under the Tray Bakes name. “This has proved really successful as I think that people know more about us now,” she added.

Tray Bakes’ best-sellers include honeycomb crunch, a sweet meal honeycombed biscuit with a drizzle of white chocolate-flavoured coating, as well as luxury caramel shortcake and caramel crispie.