ILKLEY start up business The Ilkley Kitchen, run by Marcella Mullan, has won a 3 star Great Taste Award for its flour free, fat free, gluten free orange and almond cake.

Great Taste is the largest and most trusted accreditation scheme for fine food and drink. Established in 1994, it encourages and mentors artisan food producers, offering a unique benchmarking and product evaluation service leading to an independent accreditation that enables small food and drink businesses to compete against supermarket premium own label brands.

Since 1994 over 146,000 products have been assessed. This year 12,772 products were blind tasted by panels of specialists: top chefs, food writers, influencers, food critics, restaurateurs and fine food retailers.

Out of the thousands of entries 208 have been awarded a 3 star, 1,326 received a 2 star and 3,409 were awarded a 1 star accolade.

Foods awarded the top 3 star rating are judged to be extraordinary tasty food - less than three per cent of products are awarded a 3 star each year. They go on to compete for a Golden Fork Trophy and the Great Taste Supreme Champion to be announced on September 1.

Marcella, of Ilkley said: “Amazing! I’m so proud our beloved orange and almond cake has won the prestigious Great Taste 3 star accolade. It was a labour of love developing the cake. I knew it was going to be delicious and had something a bit special about it. Flour free and fat free gluten free with no added naughtiness! It’s perfect with a cuppa or enjoyed as a scrumptious pudding. We love this cake, our friends love this cake, our customers love this cake and now The Great Taste judges love this cake.”

Ilkley businesses La Stazione, Friends of Ham, J Reserve and Cafe J already sell Ilkley Kitchen products including Marcella’s award winning orange and almond cake. The cake can be bought via www.theilkleykitchen.com

The panel of judges included; cook and champion of sustainable food, Melissa Hemsley, Kenny Tutt, MasterChef 2018 champion, author, Olia Hercules, chef and food writer, Gill Meller, Kavi Thakar from Dishoom, food writer and stylist, Georgina Hayden and author and chef, Zoe Adjonyoh, as well as food buyers from Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Sourced Market and Partridges.