She wouldn't stand for that on Bake Off! Mary Berry to launch a supermarket range of ready-made cakes

The range will have her original recipes like lemon drizzle and chocolate cake
But some of them contain far more additives than if they were made at home
She previously praised food cooked from scratch as ‘free from unwanted extras'
Her mission on Bake Off was to get people to bake their own cakes and biscuits

By Xantha Leatham For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 08:51 BST, 8 April 2017 | Updated: 08:52 BST, 8 April 2017

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Her recipes have inspired generations to don an apron, pick up a wooden spoon and try their hand at baking a homemade cake.

So some may be shocked to hear that Mary Berry is to launch a supermarket range of ready-made creations, aimed at those who want to eat ‘without having set foot in the kitchen’.

The products are based on some of the former Great British Bake Off judge’s original recipes, including lemon drizzle, chocolate, carrot and banana fudge flavours.

Mary Berry is to launch a supermarket range of ready-made creations, aimed at those who want to eat ‘without having set foot in the kitchen’ (pictured at the range's launch on Thursday)

The products are based on some of the former Great British Bake Off judge’s original recipes, including lemon drizzle, chocolate, carrot and banana fudge flavours

‘I am extremely proud of every single one of the cakes in my range,’ she said. ‘Each cake is a faithful representation of some of my favourite recipes, and they taste fantastic.

‘I hope people enjoy eating them as much as we have enjoyed creating them.’

In the past, Berry has praised food cooked from scratch as ‘free from unwanted extras’, and said she is passionate about homemade cakes ‘as you know exactly what has gone into them – there are no oxidants or emulsifiers, no e-numbers or additives of any sort’.

Despite her stance her new range, as with many other shop-bought products, will contain preservatives.

Betty’s original chocolate cake recipe lists just a handful of ingredients. Her ready-made Indulgent Chocolate Cake ingredients list is three times the length, and includes glycerol, soya lecithin, diglycerides of fatty acids and potassium sorbate.

The Lemon Drizzle Cake, which has just six ingredients in its original form, has 18 in the pre-prepared version.

In the past, Berry has praised food cooked from scratch as ‘free from unwanted extras’, and said she is passionate about homemade cakes (pictured with Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood)

In previous years Berry has recommended buying supermarket filo pastry and pesto, but has never suggested anyone choose a shop-bought cake over the homemade variety

The additions mean all the cakes will have a shelf life of over two weeks.

In previous years Berry has recommended buying supermarket filo pastry and pesto, but has never suggested anyone choose a shop-bought cake over the homemade variety.

Her mission on The Great British Bake Off was to get people to bake their own cakes, biscuits and puddings.

She has said before: ‘I’m encouraging people to bake. I think that’s very good. It gets the family together. It’s something you can do at home, it’s creative and it doesn’t cost too much.’

Since her departure from the show – she will be replaced on Channel 4 by Prue Leith – Berry is diversifying from her roots as a home cook.

Her mission on The Great British Bake Off (pictured) was to get people to get people to bake their own cakes, biscuits and puddings

She is set to present a new BBC series, Secrets From Britain’s Great Houses, in which she takes viewers on a tour of stately homes.

Recently, she also announced plans to publish a handy hints home maintenance guide, featuring her ‘no-fuss way to clean the loo’.

The new food range will be produced by the Finsbury Food Group, which has the ability to turn out 18 cakes a minute on its factory production line.

A spokesman for the company said: ‘The nation’s Queen of Cakes is launching her very first range of cakes this spring, giving cake lovers the chance to eat genuine Mary Berry cakes without having to set foot in the kitchen.’