"IanW" > wrote in message
...
>
> that's something I was wondering about - the base of the cake is the usual
> sugar, eggs, flour & marg.. the sugar is presumably going to act as a
> preservative, but do commercial producers add anything further?
>

I saw a show on the Food Network and thought about this thread. The show is
called "Recipe for Success" and it follows people who quit their jobs to go
into the food business. This week there was an episode called "That takes
the cake" http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ra

The show was about a Harvard MBA who quite her job and sold her home to
start a business making a family recipe pound cake that she sells to
retailers and food services. She lined up a commercial baker to make the
product and got a contract for tens of thousands of slices of cake for an
airline. The day before the first order was to be baked, the bakery called
and said they were going out of business -- TODAY!

It's an interesting series. I don't know if they have on-demand for the
Food Network, but you might be interested. It might be worth contacting some
of these people to see if they can give you some advice.