So what could be nicer than a job baking cookies in the warmth of your own kitchen?

Definitely sounds like the way to beat the blues. And when you hear that this is how Tara Breen built her handmade food empire, it's obviously not just a case of waking up and smelling the chocolate.

A passion for delicious goodies turned into the creation of a cake . . . a passion cake, aptly enough. Family and friends adored it and so Tara's Handmade Quality Foods was born.

The recipe for a success that includes winning no fewer than eight taste awards after only three years in business is slightly complicated, of course.

For starters, Tara may be Indian but she doesn't fit the national stereotype of the family matriarch with an instinctive love and skill for baking.

Then there's that passion cake . . . still the most successful of all of her growing range of products . . . but which originated from a Norwegian family friend's cookbook. Both she and her MBA graduate husband Michael were living in London at the time they decided they would have that cake and eat it too in the form of a lucrative business.

"I honestly have no real background in food at all, other than just liking it. And I certainly wouldn't have been known back then as being someone good at baking. Having said that, I should add that Michael had just come back from Hong Kong where he had set up a bar which served food, and, more importantly, where his chef was David Laris. David has since gone on to become an executive chef with Terence Conran in London, so as you can imagine, I really took note when someone so knowledgeable about food encouraged me to start up a business.

"I was surprised by how enthusiastic he was, because I literally only had one product . . . the passion cake. That came about from when I was in my friend's kitchen and she literally took me step by step, from measuring the ingredients to lining the baking tin, through this old Norwegian recipe. The passion, and the cake, took off and we went on to make 3,000 cakes in the first six months."

For family reasons on Michael's side of the house, they came to live in Dungarvan in late 2002 to be closer to ailing relatives. With their own young family in tow . . . Tamanna (now 15), Matthew (13) and nine-year-old Tara Rose (better known as Rosie), how did they all adapt to life in a small Irish town after London?

"We moved to Cork initially, which was a good 'intermediate' introduction. The only real problem with Dungarvan at the time was in finding the ingredients, particularly the organic ones, that we needed for the business. We helped start up a farmers' market that would generate the sort of the things we wanted . . . and also to help grow our own business and create a cashflow.

"I literally did begin by baking in my own kitchen, then after six months we moved to a room in town at the back of a pub and then finally to a fully fledged industrial unit. For anyone thinking of doing the same? Yes, it can be done from home and my advice . . . after you get over all of the 'don't be mad' comments from wellmeaning friends . . . is to call in the local environmental health officer who will tell you exactly what is required professionally. Often, you don't have to change a lot in the kitchen to meet the criteria, and you'll find that these officers can be of enormous help and encouragement.

"The other big question you should ask yourself is: do you want to do this solely for an income stream, or do you want to build an asset? When I started out, we probably baked about 1,000 worth of product in one week, so it can be done on a 'kitchen-table' basis.

I wanted this as an asset, as something that stands in its own right, and that I can hand to someone else to take care of if necessary."

At the start, the big challenge was to keep that homemade quality while increasing the capacity. There were plenty of late nights, early mornings, and long drives to Cork, Dublin and beyond to sell the fresh cakes and cookies. Three months later, in late spring 2003, the nation had developed a taste for Tara's consistently high-quality product throughout cafes, speciality delis and food stores.

Since then, the range has grown to include snacks and mineral waters. At this time of year, the business traditionally quietens down for a few weeks, allowing breathing space to try out new ideas as well as to recharge the batteries.

"Everyone starts to think about their waistline in January, not to mention all of the overspending in December.

People will be going on diets . . .

but hopefully only in the short term."

The ethos is still strictly using only natural ingredients, free range eggs and 'unadulterated flour' . . . "I couldn't find cherries anywhere that didn't have that shockingly livid red food colouring, so we used cranberries instead for our Christmas puddings, which tasted even better."

She still gets the horrors re the amount of additives and preservatives when reading the ingredients lists on the backs of other food packets, and strives to instil the same awareness in her kids. Not a bad idea either, as the three younger family members are pretty enthusiastic about Mum and Dad's business and like to help out.

"Rosie came up with the name for our Rainbow cookie . . . which suits it perfectly.

Because my work is about food, everyone is interested in it, everyone has an opinion and I really feel it's something that brings the family closer together. Tastes have definitely become more sophisticated, but there is a lot of artificial food out there. When you think about it, in the Ireland of over 20 years ago, food would mostly have been made from what was in the kitchen cupboard. I think people still like the idea of homemade food. And what could be nicer than making something with your kids, and then sitting down to eat together? It's one of the nicest experiences."

In general terms, Tara rates Jamie Oliver pretty highly in raising awareness about the quality of what we eat, particularly what children are eating.

Aside from the children helping out, the business is very much a partnership between her and Michael. (The couple met after newly qualified chemistry graduate Tara went into a job in sales. ) The idea of working 24/7 with your life partner might sound like too much hard work for some couples, so are there 'boardroom battles' to be resolved at the end of a long day?

"We had worked together when I was involved in sales way back and we have a mutual respect in each other's different abilities. It can be hard, of course, but we can admit our mistakes to one another and get on with things.

"And that's very important when that member of staff you were thinking of rowing with earlier in the day is the same person you need to make you a hot lemon drink when you're feeling poorly of a winter's night!"