The cup (of many colours) that cheers

There’s more on offer at Strictly Cupcakes of Penwortham than the name suggests.

As well as a dozen varieties of cupcake, there’s also great slabs of Victoria sponge, chocolate brownies, cookies, pitta bread, crumpets and teacakes to choose from.

I thought I’d stick to a cupcake, though the array of colours made it difficult to choose – did I want a Kinder Bueno cake, carrot cake or lemon meringue? Some even had sweets draped on the top.

Although the decorations were fun – one was even made to look like a dog’s face – they lacked finesse.

Buttercream looked a little roughly applied, and the cake mix in some cases had been spilt and then burned on the paper cases.

I opted for peanut butter and jam and my husband had a Malteaser variety with thick chocolate swirls. When we dug in, we were both impressed.

Yes, they might look a little more homemade than some other cupcake outlets, but there’s nothing wrong with the flavours.

My dark-looking cake did indeed conjurer up authentic tastes of peanut butter, with a dollop of jam on top of the icing finishing the taste of Americana authentically.

The Malteaser cake was rich, moist and bold without being overwhelming.

I have to admit that I was taken aback a little by the £1.75 cost of each relatively small cake, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t want one any bigger.

The moist, dense cake and the thick, sweet buttercream was in just the right quantity – filling without being sickly.

Other items to take away include hot drinks – a cappacino is priced at £2, and icecreams from Chorley-based Fredericks.

For those eating in, the bright, chintzy decor is combined with 1950s rock and roll music, decadent furry throws and ornate crockery.

Catherine Musgrove