Biscuits add bite to milestone day

The Shrewsbury cake or biscuit dates back nearly 500 years and is a magnet for tourists in the same way as shortbread in Scotland or clotted cream in Devon.

A plaque on an old shop near to Shrewsbury Castle marks the site of a building where a 'Mr Palin first made the unique Shrewsbury cakes to his original recipe in the year 1760'.

Now a Shropshire baker has come up with a 2008 version of the famous brand to celebrate her successful first year in business.

Lynne Morgan trialled her traditional handmade biscuits in the town at the weekend and sold out. "I reckon a lot of fathers were given Shrewsbury biscuits on Father's Day," she says with a smile.

"I wanted something special to celebrate my first year in business. Shrewsbury is famous for its biscuits and I'm a Shrewsbury girl so what better than to bake a traditional Shrewsbury biscuit?"Lynne has baked two versions of the crisp biscuit - one with currants and one without.

"It's a really simple biscuit but a very tasty one," she says.

Lynne launched Baked For You on June 1 last year from her bakery in Bomere Heath, near Shrewsbury.

Lynne studied at Radbrook College in her teens. She never dreamed of launching her own business until she was made redundant from her job as a cook at a rehabilitation centre.

She was inspired by a Women in Rural Enterprise business session to launch the company, which has a website, www.baked foryou.co.uk.

By Neil Thomas