Today is my other half’s birthday, but he’s reached that awkward man age where there is nothing he ever needs as a present. He buys himself the things he wants. So to make sure he had something to open, I thought I’d give him some foodie treats.

I baked a lemon drizzle cake for him yesterday using the brilliant Peyton and Byrne book, trying it a little bit differently by adding a layer of lemon curd to the centre of the batter in the loaf tin. It didn’t stay in one layer but did make the centre of the cake deliciously moist and even more lemony than usual. Deadly!

The other gifts, other than a Kinder Egg (which provided him with a Rhino), are pictured here.

The Strawberry and Black Pepper Jam is made by the Hawskhead Relish company who we discovered on a trip to the Lake District a few years ago. The chocolates from Davenports are hand made in North Shields on Tyneside and are absolutely delicious. The bacon jam was an impulse purchase made mainly because I keep reading about how amazing it is but also partly because jam and bacon are my other half’s favourite things.

What foodie gifts do you like to give? I found all of mine at the brilliant Mmm in Newcastle’s Grainger Market.