Food & Drink notes

Icing on the cake; go west; nice and sloe; Easter rising

Compiled,Caroline Stacey
Saturday 27 March 2004 01:00 GMT
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Icing on the cake

Icing on the cake

Demon Donuts are devilishly good. But they're less full of fat than Homer Simpson's usual all-American grease'n'sugar fix because they're baked instead of fried. This breakthrough in un-fat-dunked doughnuts comes from a British company which has patented the baking process. Demon Donuts are made fresh every day, with the same ingredients as traditional doughnuts, and no preservatives, but lots of sugar They're available nationwide in Sainsbury's convenience stores for 69p each and in several scrumptious varieties.

Go west

This weekend's Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink ( www.visitsouthwest.co.uk/foodfestival) has assembled top crops, cooks, drinks and nosh in and around Northernhay Gardens. Pick up tips from chefs such as Michael Caines and Tina Bricknell-Webb, meet producers, buy cheeses, ice-creams and much much more.

Nice and sloe

Trend-spotters will have been quick to pick up the gin thing that's going on in the spirit world. As a fruity variation on the clearly fashionable drink, get your head round ruby-red sloe, with hedgerow berries steeped in it. Sloe gin used to be thought of as a winter tipple, but try it now with tonic and a twist of lime, or add a fruity slug to a fizzy wine for a sloe royale, or just over ice. Gordon's Sloe Gin, from most Sainsbury's, Tesco, Oddbins and Waitrose stores for £16.99 a bottle.

Easter rising

Easter isn't all chocolate eggs. Simnel cake is a fruit cake topped with 11 marzipan balls representing the apostles, minus Judas. Girls working in service used to take one home for Mothering Sunday, to be kept until Easter. Meg Rivers Cakes, a Cotswolds bakery, keeps the craft alive, using an original recipe, organic flour and free-range eggs, with a marzipan layer in the middle and on top. Its costs £16.95 for 1kg, £25.95 for 1.5kg, plus £5.50 for delivery (01608 682858/ www.megrivers.com).

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