There are probably few people in life who don't actually like a slice of Colin the Caterpillar cake. A sponge roll filled with smooth chocolate buttercream and covered in a milk chocolate shell, not forgetting the chunky white chocolate face and feet, what's not to love.
At Park Cakes' outlet shop in Oldham, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of big and little Colin faces staring right at you, beckoning you to eat them up.
OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but when you look at the prices, they may as well have been shouting my name.
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All the stuff here has come from the neighbouring Park Cakes Factory, famous for baking products for the likes of M&S, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Aldi - and it's things that haven't quite made the grade.
So you might find a bag of mis-shaped caramel crispy millionaire bites or shortbread, or a large Colin cake in two halves, but it's nothing that can't easily be fixed up - or just propped in place until the whole thing is sliced up anyway.
And for just £1.50, it's a damn sight cheaper than the £8.50 you'll pay in M&S.
In fact everything here is cheap, in date and the shop is open to the general public.
We're talking three swiss rolls for £1, huge bags of flapjack, millionaire or cookie dough bites for £2, Victoria sponges and a four-pack of egg custards for 70p each and a bag of around 40 mini Colin sponge rolls for £2.
Again some of the faces had come loose, along with some of the bits of shell and chocolate beans off their backs, but they were still good enough to eat. My colleagues certainly didn't complain when I turned up at our nearby Chadderton office with a bag full of goodies.
The fact there was a queue to get in the place before it opened - and I had to circle the car park numerous times before finally getting a space - says everything about the demand for the outlet shop.
When I looked at my haul of treats for little more than £15, I felt sick. Sick at the thought of what this sort of thing costs at the supermarket compared with here, and sick at the sheer quantity I had picked up. Nobody needs 50 Colins do they, no matter what their size.
It's a good job my office was close by to offload most of it rather than taking it all home. Not that my kids would have complained, but given the fact we can't get an NHS dentist for toffee at the moment - that's another story - it's probably not the wisest idea.
Park Cakes Company Shop, Beehive Street, Oldham, OL8 2NB, is open to the public Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. It is CLOSED on Sundays.
