A south London-based bakery business has struck a deal to supply its free-from and vegan-friendly cupcakes to Ocado from this month, British Baker can reveal.

Cat & The Cream, in Battersea, will introduce eight varieties of its individually-packaged sweet treats with the online food retailer from today (11 January) as part of a trial listing.

Flavour varieties include chocolate, coconut and raspberry, as well as banana, cashew nut and peanut butter, with products benefitting from containing no dairy, wheat or soya and catering to vegan customers.

Cat Lyne, co-founder of Cat & The Cream, told British Baker: “Ocado’s free-from buyer found our cupcakes at Whole Foods Market, a business we currently supply our products to, and contacted us for a meeting at the beginning of 2012. It is a great opportunity for Cat & The Cream to reach out to a wider customer base.

“Ocado is the ideal delivery service for us and we can estimate a £500,000 growth based on current sales records and market size with Ocado’s coverage.”

She added that if the trial with Ocado is successful, based on real sales and demand, it will become a permanent deal, and Cat & The Cream will release new bakery products with the online food retailer sometime this year.

Looking ahead, Lyne explained: "A flagship store could be on the horizon when the brand is more established, to offer a fresh out-of-the-oven experience to our customers. We are also in discussions with some prestigious stores in London and other multiples for future contracts.”

Lyne and business partner Fabien Peulvast founded the Cat & The Cream bakery business in 2010, starting off initially as a registered home-based business. The pair then moved the business’ operations into a commercial kitchen premises six months later.