New York City has given the world hip-hop, Woody Allen and “I ‘heart’…” T-shirts. For baker Hannah Davis, it has given cupcakes.

“I went to New York about seven years ago and saw Magnolia Bakery that everyone talks about in Sex And The City. We walked past and there was a queue around the corner. It just caught my eye – not as a business idea – I just couldn’t understandwhy peoplewere queuing,” she explains.

“Then we queued, saw the array of pastel cupcakes and I just started to become obsessed with bespoke bakeries.”

The one-time ITV production manager returned to the Big Apple to enrol on a culinary course in baking. Several wedding catering jobs and a business plan later, Angel Food Bakery was born. This was back in 2008, and it is fair to say that business is booming as a baking craze sweeps the nation.

It’s not just bakeries that are enjoying this surge of interest either. Last year Sky News reported that one chain of high street shops was enjoying a 480% growth in sales of cake stands.

“I was sent an article from the Financial Times which read, ‘We don’t need bankers, we need bakers’. We probably sell about 300 or 400 cupcakes a day during the summer… and at weekends, a fair bit more,” Davis explains.

“We bake fresh every day, so we’re baking constantly.”

Indeed, trade is so good that the bakery has expanded to open Angel Food Kitchen, a work space for those eager to learn the tips, tricks and trade secrets involved in the “business of baking” from Davis and her team. A series of classes including shortbread and browniemaking, an intensive step-by-step pastry and even a whoopie pie-making workshop are on the menu throughout the coming months.

“We started doing classes next door in the bakery, but could only run them in the evenings as we’re open seven days a week. We used to run them mainly on Saturdays for hen parties,” Davis explains.

“They were just really popular and it was all done purely through word of mouth. 500 emails later we just couldn’t cope with the demand, so we opened the kitchen. It’s not all about cupcakes here – the staff are always baking at home and bringing their things in because that’s what they’ve done in their previous jobs.

“We genuinely enjoy it – we have a motto in the kitchen, ‘Cake Love… you have to have (and prove that you have) Cake Love’. It always shows in the baking, icing and decorating. It sounds a bit naff but it’s sadly true. We are constantly shouting ‘show me the love’ at each other.”

Davis’s team range from pâtissières from Selfridges to freelance chocolate makers, meaning those attending the classes can look forward to being in experienced hands.

“We attract a mixture of hens and birthday parties – I think people are a bit bored of just going to the pub – but also people who actually want to learn. A lot just want to have fun, while others bring their notepads and jot things down,” says Davis.

“Children’s birthdays are really creative.

They’re not interested in the science of it all, it’s more, ‘When can we get in with the glitter?’!”

If the smells that emanate from the bakery to drift down Meeting House Lane aren’t enough to lure the curious inside, the team’s adventurous commitment to exploring the boundaries of the humble cupcake surely must.

“Cupcakes are so versatile – they can be any flavour you want them to be. We were talking about making a green tea one yesterday,” she laughs.

“Every season lends ideas. We just keep baking and keep looking at recipes. Whenever I go somewhere now, people always expect cakes!”

That said, Davis ensures the old favourites always remain for sale in the shop.

“The Red Velvet is our most popular cupcake.

It’s a light chocolate sponge dyed red. It’s an old American recipe that used to be dyed with beetroot,” she explains.

“It’s got this really unusual sweet savoury flavour and it’s topped with cream cheese. It’s very rich. When you bite into it, you’re just like, ‘Wow, red cake!’

Open 10am-6pm daily (11am-5pm on Sundays). Cupcake prices range from 95p to £1.95. Visit www.angelfoodbakery.co.uk for bakery class timetables.