Cake toppings make Finsbury queasy

PERHAPS Lord Saatchi should have got some advice from his domestic goddess sister-in-law, Nigella Lawson.

Inexperienced temps drafted in for the Christmas rush at his Finsbury Foods cake factory were so generous with toppings on yule logs that they triggered a profit warning today.

The 50-year-old bakery in Cardiff hired hundreds of extra staff to cope with its busiest season ever. But with the city enjoying one of the UK's lowest unemployment levels, quality seasonal workers proved hard to come by.

Chaos ensued, with factory lines running slowly and pricey toffee chips and chocolate buttons being sprinkled like confetti.

'Cakemaking is a job that requires craftsmanship - speed, dexterity and knowledge of ingredients,' said finance director John Lomer. 'If you get a lot of 18-year-old lads in, they're going to be much less interested in making cakes than, say, more mature ladies.'

Lomer admits the group, chaired by Lord Saatchi, bit off more than it could chew by taking on orders for double the number of cake varieties than last Christmas.

Shares in Finsbury, which supplies cakes to the likes of Asda and Tesco, today dived 11 1/2p to 36 1/2p.