The Little Bakery of Happiness

06/05/2026

Evening, smashers😍

Just dropping in to let you know of a date for your diaries…

As part of the Northants Gluten-Free Food Festival in June, I’ll be running a baking Q&A session and sharing some of my top baking tips for successful gluten-free baking at home.

Our ingredients are expensive enough without having to bin them when a bake goes wrong! So come along and learn from someone who’s made all the mistakes in the book (and a few more besides!) on my way to baking happiness 🙃

The festival is on 13th & 14th June (Sat and Sun) at Chester House Estate (between Wellingborough and Rushden in Northamptonshire).

My session is on Sunday 14th June at 11am.

You can see a full list of food vendors (*all* gluten-free), the presentations and demos happening over the weekend and buy tickets here 👇🏻

https://northantsgf.byglee.com/

Hope to see you there! Please share this with anyone who may be interested in the festival 💕

xx Me xx

02/05/2026

Happy Saturday! I hope you’ve managed to enjoy some of this glorious sunshine we’ve seen this week 😎

First doughnuts of the year for me today. And they somehow taste even nicer when you’re in the garden and the sun is shining :)

Did you know that you can still make absolutely belting jammy doughnuts at home even if you don’t have a deep fat fryer and don’t want to use up a whole load of oil in a pan on the stovetop?

I baked these ones. As soon as they came out of the oven, I brushed them all over with melted butter then rolled them in caster sugar.

The sugar doesn’t stay put as well as it does on a deep fried doughnut when you pick them up to fill with jam. But if that really bothers you, you can brush more melted butter on the ‘bald’ spots and sprinkle with more sugar.

And while you’re doing that, I'll be starting my second doughnut 🙃

Happy bank holiday weekend!

xx Me xx

15/04/2026

Today I baked this absolute beauty and it made me reflect on how far I’ve come with my bread-baking in my fourteen years of gluten-free baking...

When you work *with* the absence of gluten rather than railing against it (which I did for a *very* long time!), you can achieve great things.

This loaf is soft and squishy with a great flavour and a decent chew. The downside is that it will have massively degraded by this time tomorrow - but then, isn’t that what the freezer is for? 🙃

It’s a small compromise and a bit of a mindset shift, but it enables you to choose quality, natural ingredients without additives or preservatives and to then make great bread with them.

Hopefully by sharing this, it will help you if you are currently stuck in ‘railing against' mode.

xx Me xx

01/04/2026

Hola!

If you’re gearing up for Easter and planning to bake hot cross buns, may I be so bold as to suggest you add some apple to your dough?

Don’t add fresh apple as that will wreak havoc with the hydration of your dough unless you make adjustments for it.

It’s waaaaay easier and quicker to add freeze-dried apple pieces. I picked some up recently from Aldi.

Try not to get carried away with the amount of fruit you add to the dough like I did, as it will just fall out 🙄

24/03/2026

It has been some considerable time since I waved hello to new happiness chasers. As I have just finished updating some of the information on my website, now seems like a good time to do so👋🏻

I’m Vicky, the founder and owner of The Little Bakery of Happiness, a craft gluten-free bakery in Northamptonshire.

I have been peddling happiness to foodies and fellow coeliacs for some considerable time…
..I'm now the business equivalent of a teenager - with much of the angst but none of the acne 🙃

If you’d like to read more about my rollercoaster ride from 2013 into 2026, I’ve created a whizzy little bakery timeline to document my journey in pursuit of happiness.

Thank you for being a part of it 💕

xx Me xx

I’m Vicky, founder of The Little Bakery of Happiness. I have been peddling happiness to fellow coeliacs and lovers of good food for some considerable time (12+ years). But if this is the first time you have come across me, you may not know where it all began…

18/03/2026

I’ve always had myself down as a thin and crispy kinduva pizza gal. But tonight, on a whim, I decided to bake pizza in a tin for the first time.

And oh my giddy godmother! 😍😍😍

It’s still got that delicious crunch on the base and crust but is light and fluffy in the middle. I’m a convert 🥰

And the best thing is, I didn’t have to run my oven at a fiendishly hot temperature for hours with a baking stone first 🙃

Fancy giving it a go? Oil your tin (I used an oblong Alan Silverwood ‘eyecatcher’ pan) then dump your pizza dough in and press it across the base and slightly up the sides to create a border.

Load up the base with your toppings (mine has tomato and garlic sauce, meatballs, orange pepper, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella) then bake at 200c fan. Mine was in for 25mins.

💕 xx Me xx 💕

17/03/2026

When you can’t join ‘em, fake it! 🙃

🍀 Happy St Patrick’s Day 🍀

Sláinte 💕

14/03/2026

Cheesecake? Cheese and cake? Cake with cheese?

Hell yes!

Raspberry, white chocolate and cookie rubble Easter cheesecake. In kit form.. With marshmallow bunnies and chicks 🐰🐥

Now available to buy from the website 🙃

06/03/2026

Where Colwyn Road and Shakespeare Road collide in Northampton, you will find coffee and cake-shaped happiness.

Go there 🙃

22/02/2026

Somebody somewhere once upon a time decided to designate 23rd February as national banana bread day.

I’ve no idea who it was or which country it was assigned to. But I’m here for it.

And in case you are, too, here’s my recipe for banana loaf:

https://www.thelittlebakeryofhappiness.co.uk/recipe-gluten-dairy-free-banana-loaf/

It has a crunchy top and everything 😍

RECIPE: GLUTEN & DAIRY FREE BANANA LOAF Post category:GLUTEN-FREE RECIPES GLUTEN-FREE DAIRY FREE BANANA LOAF While we'd happily tuck into a banana loaf any day of the year, there's something just a little bit special about the smell of a banana loaf baking in the oven on a cold winter's day. This re...