WITH the help of household tv programmes such as GBBO (or Great British Bake Off to those of you who don’t know), baking is on the rise.

So as our summer diets are gladly thrown out of the window, we can breathe a comfortable sigh of relief and embrace the chance to celebrate National Cupcake Week which runs from Monday to next Sunday (September 15-21).

And while you (and certainly I) may be no Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood, there’s nothing wrong with giving it a good go yourself.

There has already been a bit of a ‘cupcake culture’ established in the UK in the last few years, particularly with the influence of places such as the Hummingbird Bakery and their sugar-addiction-inducing cookbook.

But while there are luxurious options like the indulgent red velvet, the old favourites like butter cream butterfly cakes are as much as a sure-fire way to satisfy too.

And you don’t have to stick with sweet either.

Savoury cupcakes (or more like muffins...) are a great way to diversify your repertoire, and can be equally as tasty too.

They may be designed for one, but you can have as many as you like and nowadays people are opting for individual cakes for weddings rather than one cake mountain.

You can also try your hand with decoration.

Be inspired by the home-industries tents at all our agricultural shows and experiment with designs, shapes, colours, sizes and more.

Cupcakes are just the same as normal cakes, so follow any traditional Be-Ro recipe and just split them up. For plain and simple stick with the traditional 4442 recipe - 4oz sugar, 4oz flour, 4oz butter and two eggs.

If you’re feeling creative head to the Courtyard Dairy, Settle, where they have crumbly cheeses, great for using in or crumbling over savoury muffins. Choose between sharp, zesty and light Anster at £22/kg, buttery and rich Creamy Farmhouse Lancashire at £17.50/kg or a moist and fresh Richard III Wensleydale.

Watson and Woollard, Kendal, has a range of bacon to chop into or enjoy with in crispy slices with your cheesey muffins. They have plain dry-cured bacon at £9.35/kg, maple-cured bacon at £7.68/kg or smoked dry-cured bacon at £9.55.

For something a little different, head to Higginsons at Grange-over-Sands where they have a meaty answer to large cupcakes which they are calling ‘beef, pork and cheese truffles’.

At £2 each, these truffles are made with half beef, half pork and seasoning, rolled into a cupcake shape and stuffed with either grated cheese, chopped onions and bacon pieces.

Ready after 35 minutes in the oven, one has a chilli added to the cheese mix and the other has garlic added to the cheese mix.

Stay in Grange where Hazelmere Cafe and Bakery has chocolate and beetroot cupcakes at £1.25 and their new lemon drizzle cake at 75p a slice or £2.85 for the loaf.

Be inspired and think of how you can turn any cake flavour into a cupcake.

Burton Community Stores has a range of cakes to give you ideas including chocolate, victoria sponge and lemon drizzle all at £1.25 a slice.