There are certain designs of functional products which achieve iconic status. Think Philippe Stark's Alessi Juicy Salif Lemon Squeezer, or George Carwardine's Anglepoise Lamp.

Well here's a new candidate bidding to join the ranks of design classics. It's Ciclotte, an exercise bike designed by Italian designer Luca Schieppati and made by the Italian Lamiflex Group from carbon, steel and glass fibres.

The main focus is the great wheel, reminiscent of a 19th century monocycle wheel but said to have been "transformed into an object of refined engineering".

Now here's the science bit, Ciclotte has been designed to reproduce the dynamics and performance of road cycling and is ideal for high intensity aerobic workouts such as spinning. It is also the first exercise bike to use an epicycloid system.

This works by generating a concentrated magnetic field using a copper ring which is rotated at a high speed in front of five magnets, which can be moved back or forwards via the touch screen display to control the strength - producing a high performance effective cycling resistance system.

It's due to be launched in the UK at the 100% Design Show from 23-26 September 2010 at Earls Court, London and will be available in Carbon, Silver and Purple, to suit any boutique hotel's decor. Although the £6,800 price tag would make it a very expensive clothes horse.

Any bridezillas out there who want their wedding cake to be a talking point on their big day could do worse than consider a cheesecake.

Apparently it's quite a trend among those with an aversion to fruit cake or any other of the more traditional wedding cake ingredients.

Of course it's not a conventional cheesecake we're talking about, but something like the creation brought about by the teaming up of Swiss cheese specialists Emmi and master pâtissier Eric Lanlard of Cake Boy boutique in south west London and Channel 4's Glamour Puds series.

The five-tiered wedding 'cake' features whole wheels of Val Poschiavo (2nd tier), Piz Bever (3rd tier), Appenzeller surchoix (4th tier), Berner Alpkase (bottom tier) and Tête De Moine (top tier). The mild, hard Tête De Moine also forms the delicate rosettes used as decoration by shaving it using a traditional girolle.

Lanlard particularly likes the rosettes although he has a warning: "I wouldn't recommend them for a bouquet though - the guests might not be too happy when the bride throws it."

Is it a cake or a biscuit? The debate rages on despite an official tribunal ruling over a decade ago that the Jaffa Cake is indeed a cake (and therefore zero-rated for VAT).

But hold on a minute, someone's only gone and bottled it.

VC2, parent company of various Scottish drinks brands including Stiffys Vodka Drink, describes its bright orange Stiffys Jaffa Cake flavoured vodka drink as "capturing the brilliantly fragrant and distinctive flavour of Jaffa Cakes to give the drink a smack of tangy orange and the lip licking aftertaste of dark chocolate". Mmmmm! Make mine a large slice please.
 
With an abv of 20%, the drink is a mixer which can also be served straight but is apparently at its best when used to create long drinks and cocktails.

And if that's not enough for those Jaffa Cake addicts out there, you can make your very own 'Jaffa Cake' cake by following Nigella Lawson's recipe.

"Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before." Is there anyone in Britain who can't sing that lyric?

It's like the Doctor Who thing - every generation has its own special Doctor, be it John Pertwee, Tom Baker, David Tennant or whoever. Similarly, every generation has its own Cadbury Flake advert which, in the 60s and 70s at least, usually featured a sultry girl seductively eating chocolate.

Among the most memorable are the artist in a field of poppies painting a watercolour, the woman letting her bath overflow, and the negligee-clad girl sitting on a window sill on a hot evening while a gecko lizard crawls over a ringing telephone. Among the most forgettable is Joss Stone trilling the famous jingle while working on a new song in a recording studio.

But it's all change with the new ad. Gone are the jingle and the girl indulging in a moment of pleasure. Instead the aim is to represent the beauty and delicacy of the product simply by a girl in a ruffle-abundant yellow dress produced by couture designer Antony Price. Taking three weeks to create with 200 metres of fabric, the yellow dress becomes an analogy for the folds of the chocolate.  

Launched earlier this month, the new campaign runs for six weeks including TV, cinema and PR backed by £3.5 million investment.

Unless you've been in outer space for the last few weeks you'll have noticed that football fever has gripped the UK, although if the England team's last match was anything to go by the fever could well have subsided by this time tomorrow and given way to overwhelming feelings of grief.

There have been hundreds of themed products floating around the hospitality market from Tibard's St George's cross-emblazoned chefs' jackets to Pieminister's Fabio Pie and Rooney Roll.

Product Junkie has just come across these rather nifty England football shirt/shorts plates from Dalebrook Supplies which, at the risk of sounding wildly optimistic, could be a nice touch if you're serving snacks during a screening of any more England matches.

However, as they're made from 100% food safe melamine which makes them durable, you will be denied the satisfaction of smashing them to the floor when the inevitable happens.

Well, wasn't summer lovely? All six days of it.

As the rain falls and we dig out the woollies we'd packed away, Mövenpick is hoping it's just a glitch and the sun will return. 

You see, the premium ice-cream brand has come up with its own take on the smoothie - using Mövenpick sorbets - to satisfy our cravings for ice cold drinks when the temperature soars.

The first recipe idea involves blending three medium scoops of Mövenpick Passion Fruit & Mango sorbet and a small banana with the juice of one small sweet orange and 50ml ice cold unfiltered apple juice, garnished with apple julienne, mango coulis and mint leaves. Mmmm...a taste of paradise.

The second combines three medium scoops of Raspberry & Strawberry sorbet with a small banana, two strawberries and the juice of one small sweet orange, garnished with sliced strawberries and lemon balm leaves. Sounds like a Wimbledon winner to us.

On checking the weather forecast Product Junkie has discovered the break in the weather is indeed temporary, no doubt caused by the impending Bank Holiday, and things are due to improve towards the middle of next week.

So get those blenders on standby.

Move over goji and açaí, there's a new kid in town.

Despite having a name that sounds like the early vocalisation of a toddler, when it comes to nutritional qualities baobab (bau-bab) beats many foods hands down with six times the vitamin C of an orange, twice as much calcium as milk and more magnesium than spinach. 

Baobab is an exotic fruit from Africa and better suited as an ingredient rather than eaten on its own. Its off-white, powdery fruit pulp looks like sherbet and has a unique tangy taste described as 'caramel pear with subtle tones of grapefruit'. It can be blended with anything and will instantly boost the nutritional value of many products and act as a flavour enhancer.

Back in 2008, EU Novel Foods approval gave the green light to supply the fruit pulp to the UK and Product Junkie is reliably informed it's now on the menu at the Eden Project in Cornwall where one million visitors a year will be treated to Baobab cakes and Baobab Ice Cream in the attraction's café.

If you're anything like Product Junkie, there are times when nothing quite hits the spot like some good old fashioned British grub.

Ah yes, with its diced steak and kidney pieces suspended in a rich, thick gravy spilling from a suet pastry case, steak and kidney pudding - or 'babby's yead' if you hail from North West England - is surely the epitome of British comfort food.

But wait, here's a bit of innovation. Someone's only gone and crossed it with that Brummie favourite, the balti.

That clever someone is frozen foods producer Glendale who has added Chicken Balti Pudding to its Great British Pudding Company range of Steak & Kidney, Lamb & Mint and Steak, Mushroom & Ale.

The curry filling in the 370g portion is spiced with cumin, cardamom and coriander while the golden suet crust contains kalonji seeds.

So it's hats off to Glendale for tweaking a successful formula to create an Anglo-Asian spectacular.

Mind you, Product Junkie can't help thinking that perhaps the curry filling of choice should have been chicken tikka masala. After all, it is supposedly our national dish.

The rather marvellously named Mr Todiwala's Splendidly Flavoursome Indian Sauces made their debut recently and alluringly promise to deliver "exotic spices to yield flavours both elegant and refined".

Of course 'exotic', 'elegant' and 'refined' could very well refer to the fabulously popular chef patron of Cafe Spice Namaste himself, who excellently identified a business opportunity in offering his customers the chance to take a bit of the superbly tasty restaurant experience home without gracefully pocketing the cutlery.

Majestically, Cyrus said, "For years, visitors to Café Spice Namaste had been asking me to create a range of authentic cooking sauces that they could use to cook at home."

Well now they have their wish with the gorgeously fresh Makhani, Bhuna, Dhaansaak Daal, Vindaloo and Chettinad sauces, following in the footsteps of the Mr Todiwala's range of award-winning hand-made pickles and chutneys.

One can only imagine sales will proceed magnificently.

Cinzano. If you're over 40 years old I bet that makes you think of Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins in those iconic 1970's TV adverts.

In fact, the famous vermouth is something of a screen star having made appearances in The Godfather and, more recently, Gavin and Stacey.

Well Cinzano has now had a makeover in the hope that many more will take Bryn's lead and adopt it as their favourite tipple.

Owner Gruppo Campari has introduced a contemporary bottle shape with curved lines and simpler label graphics clearly communicating each of the three variants - Cinzano Bianco, Cinzano Extra Dry and Cinzano Rosso.

AC Nielsen pegs Cinzano is the leading bianco brand in the on-trade and the range as a whole has recorded more than 5% growth across both the on- and off- trades.

Tina Martin, marketing manager for Cinzano, says: "The trend to classic cocktails, in which vermouth is a key ingredient, has revived the fortunes of the vermouth sector recently and the new designs will enhance Cinzano's shelf appeal and value perception".

Product Junkie says bring back the Rossiter and Collins adverts. "Getting your head down sweetie?". Classic.