Carole Holding may be best known for her paintings and prints of Bermuda ? but in a recent move, she has swapped her paint brush for a mixing spoon with the launch of a line of Bacardi rum-flavoured cakes.

Trained originally as a chef, Mrs. Holding said she developed the cake recipes in her kitchen using ingredients such as coconut and pecans, eventually coming up with four different flavours: chocolate with Bacardi Gold rum; original which is also flavoured with Bacardi Gold rum; lemon cake with coconut and Bacardi Lim?n, and orange cake with chopped pecans and Bacardi 'O' citrus rum.

Mrs. Holding said: "I am always thinking about new ideas to expand my product line. I am a real fan of Bacardi liquors and since I already use the products in my jams and marmalades, I thought it would be a great idea to use them in the cakes. I tested many, many recipes over the last two years and I am really pleased with the finished products," she said, adding that the liquor flavour was " extremely subtle".

The cakes ? which come in two sizes ? have been launched, she said, in time for the Christmas season.

"I have launched them now as I think the small cakes will make great hostess or office gifts for the upcoming holiday season, and the large cakes will make great desserts for hostesses who want a homemade cake but don't have time to prepare one themselves."

Mrs. Holding received her professional chef qualification ? AMHCI ? in 1962 from Brighton Technical College. She is a Dame de la Cha?ne des R?tisseurs and a member of the Ordre Mondial which is the wine society of the Cha?ne des R?tisseurs.