Caption: Baker whose shop was raided for illegal sprinkles says ‘sprinkles in this country are a f*****g disgrace’
Credit Get Baked/Triangle News
A bakery forced to stop using American sprinkles has created its own version as British ones are a ‘disgrace’.
Get Baked in Leeds at the centre of ‘Sprinklegate’ was raided in February last year by trading standards officers and ordered to stop selling the sweet treats.
Inspectors busted the bakery after an anonymous tip-off and found cakes and cookies with the wrong kind of e-numbers.
E127, a red food colouring only permitted for candied cherries, has been linked to hyperactivity and behavioural problems in children.
Boss Richard Myers saw the imported sprinkles seized and many of the much-loved produced pulled from the Headingley bakery shelves.
After the run-in with Trading Standards, Richard tried using British-made colours but said they were ‘sh*t’ and look dull.
Richard Myers is selling his sprinkles to let the world share the vibrant treats (Picture: Get Baked/Triangle News Source: Triangle News
Trading Standard inspectors found the sprinkles contained a controversial e-number (Picture: Get Baked/Triangle News)
So the dad-of-one spent eight months figuring out how to make the US-style sprinkles that are compliant with British law.
Enter Expen$ive sprinkles. The confectionery is just as vibrant as the American kind and Richard even set up a side business to sell them.
The 33-year-old said: ‘People ask me why I’m so passionate about sprinkles and it’s because — for me — sprinkles are a great source of nostalgia.
‘When I think of the vibrant, multicoloured fun-pellets that we should spring to all our minds when we think of sprinkles, I’m taken back to my childhood.
‘Sprinkles in this country are a f*****g disgrace.
‘If anything, their pastel nature takes away any vibrancy and celebratory feel to whatever has the misfortune of being adorned with them.’
The ‘Birthday Bruce’, a towering 12-layer cake, was one of the beloved baked goods that used American sprinkles (Picture: Instagram/Get Baked)
‘The funny thing is, “Sprinklegate” evidently ended up being one of the best things that could happen to Get Baked,’ Richard added.
Expen$ive sprinkles, which cost £12 for a 160g bottle, are being flogged to bakers of all stripes so everyone can use the colourful decorations.
‘You don’t realise how vibrant our sprinkles actually are until you see them next to the standard, morbid as s**t British alternative,’ Richard says.
It’s quite the mood shift from this time last year. On Facebook, Richard broke the news about ‘Sprinklegate’ and the desperate measures he was taking to stay afloat.
‘It is HIGHLY unlikely that we will find any legal sprinkles that we will use as a replacement,’ he said.
‘British sprinkles just aren’t the same, they’re totally s**t and I hate them.
‘I am extremely passionate about sprinkles.’
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‘Sprinkles in this country are a f*****g disgrace.’