WHAT would you say to a bacon and maple syrup brownie as you popped it out of the oven?

Emily Jones tells hers they are “beautiful”, and they sell like... well, you know the expression.

In fact, Mrs Jones’s brownies are so in demand that she and husband Fraser have been bullied into opening their own bakery in Oxford.

Barefoot Bakery throws open its doors at 74A Walton Street today and the smells of bacon brownies, carrot cakes and freshly-roasted takeaway coffee will fill Jericho.

For the Oxford-born couple, parents to 11-year-old Arrabella, the shop is a dream come true.

Mrs Jones, 37, has no professional training and only started selling her baked goods two years ago on a monthly stall at North Parade market.

But she had always been a keen cook, and Mr Jones, 34, remembered: “She would always be cooking – if you came around for dinner there would always be this huge feast.”

At that time, Mrs Jones was just heading back into the world of work after being a full-time mum to Arrabella for some years.

The cakes proved so popular they were soon being snapped up by shops, cafes and restaurants around the city.

With Mr Jones roped into the business, the two of them had to rent a kitchen to meet demand.

They both now work in the business full-time, employ another member of staff and bake more than 250 cakes each week for 20 Oxford establishments.

Mr Jones said: “The shop idea came about purely through constant harassment from customers saying ‘where’s your shop?’, ‘when are you going to have a shop?’.”

The key to his wife’s success, Mr Jones said – because she would never admit it herself – is whispering sweet nothings to her creations as she bakes.

“She talks to the cakes like they’re her babies,” he revealed.

“As she pops them in the oven she says things like ‘there you you, we’ll just pop you in there’, and as they come out she’ll tell them they’re beautiful.”

She even says goodbye as she packs them away, he said.

“That’s the nice thing about running a bakery – everybody is always happy about cake.

“When you deliver it people are always pleased to see it arrive, there’s no bad feelings about cake.”

Mrs Jones is an explorer in the kitchen; as well as the bacon and maple syrup brownies, Barefoot Bakery will also be serving up courgette and lime cakes, chocolate, beetroot and raspberry treats, banana bread and a glut of gluten-free goodies.

Mr Jones, a former Cherwell School pupil, said: “The shop will be somewhere to showcase: We can be extravagant with flavours.”

Barefoot Bakery will open 9am to 5pm on weekends and 8am to 5pm on weekdays.