Penrith Toffee Shop’s website went into meltdown following owner Neil Boustead’s appearance on James Martin’s Saturday Morning ITV cookery show.
Mr Boustead was interviewed by the celebrity chef as part of a live television link-up as the Toffee Shop’s fudge was being used for the topping of a rich chocolate fudge cake.
“If there is one word that can describe this cake, it is epic,” said Mr Martin, who has been a pastry chef for about 30 years.
“It is fantastic, it really is.”
Mr Boustead told viewers the Toffee Shop business was originally started by an old lady called Mrs Furness.”
She started down the other end of Penrith about 110 years ago and it has been in two families since then. I have been doing it for about 40 years now.
“Nothing has changed at all. We make it in copper jam pans with big wooden spoons – it is stirred by hand, it is beaten by hand, it’s made exactly the same way, using exactly the same ingredients,” said Mr Boustead.
He said they start their Christmas work by about the beginning of November and between November and Christmas they would make anywhere between 10 or 12 tonnes of fudge.
“I’m a bit like Popeye!” said Mr Boustead.
He said after programme had been aired that the Toffee Shop’s website crashed for about 30 minutes on Saturday morning as people went online to see how they could purchase the delicious fudge.
Mr Boustead said he had been very pleased with the response to the show. “It’s been a bit manic,” he said.
