A new dessert place selling school cake and custard is coming to Manchester and we’re already a little bit obsessed.
Called Little Blonde Bakes, it opens this Friday in Ancoats with a menu featuring comforting winter warmers including sprinkle-loaded school cakes and cornflake tarts, served with a generous helping of warm custard.
Those after a classic hit of nostalgia won’t be able to refuse a slice of old school cake and custard, whilst the more adventurous among us are sure to be tempted by the chocolate old school cake, served with a bright green minted custard.
Elsewhere on the menu, you’ll find cornflake tarts (again served with a big pot of custard) alongside a long list of made-to-order pancake stacks, crepes, ice cream sundaes and milkshakes loaded with sweet shop favourites like white Kinder Buenos, Biscoff, Nutella and more.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Launched by baker Francesca Harrison, who hails from Ramsbottom, she told The Manc that she’s been baking for six years – first at home, before moving to open a cafe alongside her mum Jayne in Bury.
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The pair first launched their cake business in 2016, selling bespoke cakes, cupcakes and blondies from their kitchen at home, before opening their own site in Bury.
Now, Francesca is branching out on her own with her own cake and dessert business – taking over the former Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria kitchen on Radium Street in Ancoats.
Inside she’s cooking custom American and European-style pancakes on bespoke griddles, before loading them up on every layer with custom sauces and pieces of chocolate, because, she tells us, there’s “nothing worse” than a dry pancake. We couldn’t agree more.
She’s also serving up ultra-indulgent Sundaes stuffed with her homemade, warm fudge brownies and a variety of sauces, with other choices including warm cookies, bubblegum topped with Millions, Nutella Oreo, Kinder, Biscoff and Milkybar.
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Due to open this Friday, her treats are priced from just £4 with Sundaes starting at £4.50, milkshakes at £5.50, crepes at £7 and pancake stacks at £8. All will be available for delivery exclusively via Uber Eats starting 18 November.
Stockport County’s Christmas dinner in a cup returns for 2025 as part of new festive food range
Danny Jones
We can’t believe it’s rolled around again already, but with the festive period well underway and the big day just a few weeks away, Stockport County have brought back their viral ‘Xmas dinner in a cup’for 2025.
Better still, the County Courtyard has seen some new Christmas specials added to its food menu, too.
The local football club are absolutely flying in League One at the moment, having spent plenty of time at the top of the table already and still well and truly contesting those promotion/play-off spots.
If you’re a Stopfordian, that’s plenty of cause for celebration right there, but with the Christmas dinner in a cup also up for grabs once more, the holiday season literally couldn’t taste any better right now.
For those who’ve never seen it before, it’s exactly what it says on the tin – well, cup: a little Sunday dinner in a County-branded takeaway coffee cup, complete with a healthy pour of gravy and pretty much all the trimmings you could hope for.
Yes, including sprouts, because all of you who still don’t touch them need to grow up already.
Currently priced at just £4.50, not only does it contain virtually all the major food groups (barring the customary matchday pints, of course), it might just be one of the healthiest and best value-for-money bits of footy scran around – certainly in Greater Manchester, anyway.
But, as mentioned, that’s not all this year; Stockport are also serving up the new festive hot dog and even a ‘leftover Christmas curry’ in a bowl, which might even be more warming on a cold night at Edgeley Park than the Xmas dinner in a cup or clinging onto a flask of Bovril.
Anyone else craving that curry with a cheeky bit of bubble and squeak now?
It’s also worth noting that you’ll only be able to get one of those on Boxing Day, by the way, when the Hatters host Lincoln City in the league.
As for the rest of it, County fans can get their hands on this seasonal scran for the first time this year at the weekend when Dave Challinor’s side take on Barnsley at 12:30pm, and two of the three specials will then be served at home every game over the holiday period.
Speaking of random Christmas food creations, there’s another limited-time-only and potentially divisive example that we’ll also be sampling this December…
Joe & The Juice opens at the Trafford Centre as viral brand’s comeback continues
Daisy Jackson
Joe & The Juice has opened another new store in Manchester – this time at the Trafford Centre.
The juice and coffee brand used to be based in Debenhams in the city centre, but vanished from Greater Manchester when the department store folded.
But Joe & The Juice is going through a remarkable resurgence and has relaunched back into our city in a big way.
First there was a huge new store on Cross Street in the city centre; now, it’s a new site in the Trafford Centre; and soon, it’ll be another spot on Mosley Street.
Joe & The Juice opens today – Black Friday – in the shopping centre, with exclusive deals and giveaways from a spinning prize wheel all day.
Inside you’ll find their signature menu of juices, smoothies, health shots, coffees and matchas, plus its viral Scandi-inspired sandwiches like the Tunacado.
There’s also its first-ever Christmas sandwich – the Joe Ho Ho is a typically Joe & The Juice-style twist on a classic Turkey butty.
The new shop also has a new dedicated space for JOE app users, where you can pre-order and collect your purchase, skipping the queues.
Joe Ho Ho festive sandwichSmoothies at Joe & The JuiceThe new Joe & The Juice is open at the Trafford CentreIt’s the second Joe & The Juice to open in Manchester this yearCredit: The Manc Group
Joe & The Juice will be open in the Upper Dome of the Trafford Centre from 8am to 10pm, Monday to Sunday.
Jon James, Joe & The Juice’s UK Managing Director, commented: “Manchester’s vibrant community is what makes it the perfect home for Joe & The Juice and the response the city has shown to our Cross Street opening said it all.
“We’ve grown fast across Manchester and can’t wait to bring even more people into the Joe experience as we open our Trafford Centre store this Black Friday, ready to fuel with our wide, functional offering.
“With further spots coming across the city next year, we’re only just getting warmed up.”
Georgina Pellant -
15th November 2022 
