You may already know of Pam Corbin through her wonderful River Cottage Preserves Handbook, or perhaps you have attended one of her preserving courses down here at Park Farm.
Her expertise relating to jams, jellies, chutneys, cordials and liqueurs is unsurpassed, and her down-to-earth way of sharing that knowledge has made her one of the most popular members of our team.
That’s why, when Pam agreed to channel her considerable talents into a book dedicated to cake, I was filled with pleasure and, indeed, greedy anticipation.
You won’t be surprised to hear that I stepped up to my professional responsibilities and made myself available for sampling as the book progressed. It was a tough job . . .
Now, having read the book, cooked a number of the recipes for my family at home, and eaten many others hot from Pam’s tins (or picked up from my special cake sample drop box at River Cottage HQ), I would venture to say that this may be the only cake-baking book you’ll ever really need.
What I love about Pam is that she’s a champion of the art of the possible.
Having proved that there is nothing mysterious or arcane about the art of preserving, and that fabulous preserves are within the reach of any cook, Pam has performed a similar magic on the subject of baking.
While many of us enjoy whipping up a batch of muffins or a chocolate sponge – and many more need very little encouragement to sample the results – a lot of cooks are under the misapprehension that they’re not great cake-makers, or somehow lack the special touch needed to produce great results.
If that strikes a chord with you, then this book should set you right.
Not only is it an invitation to rediscover an enormous range of delectable
cakes and biscuits, it’s also a confidence-inspiring demonstration that we can all create them if we want to.
There are literally thousands of different cakes, bakes, scones, biscuits and cookies that Pam might have chosen to showcase here, but I think there’s something rather brilliant about the range she has selected.
She’s combined a raft of wonderfully nostalgic regional recipes, such as Cornish fairings, Grasmere gingerbread and Dundee cake, with some intriguing and often rather sophisticated options, such as Italian certosino or her delicate little marzipan-filled Simnel cakelets.
There are a few surprises – I absolutely love Pam’s ‘Veg patch’ gnome cakes and her homemade Jammy dodgers.
But all the recipes are based on the principles we try to stick to at River Cottage: many focus on seasonal ingredients, several use up leftovers and, of course, Pam encourages us to make use of local produce, including herbs and fruit we might have growing in our own gardens.
You won’t find elaborately decorated cakes here, or swathes of fondant icing and sugarpaste – and thank goodness, I would say. Pam never goes down the route of novelty for novelty’s sake, which is very liberating for the cook.
Who wants to worry about piping and moulding when there’s cake to be eaten?
And it doesn’t mean these cakes and bakes aren’t beautiful to look at.
As Pam says, she simply believes in allowing a cake’s natural charms to speak for themselves. The result is that while Pam’s cakes always look stunning to me, there’s nothing here that doesn’t taste at least as good as it looks . . .
It’s got to be said – and I think this is very sad – that cake has rather fallen out of favour in some quarters. It can be seen as an over-indulgent foodstuff without nutritional value.
But, with the best homemade cakes, that’s just not fair. While I’m not suggesting we should all be cramming ourselves with macaroons and Battenberg every day, I think sweet baked treats have an important part to play in a well-balanced, life-enhancing diet.
There are cakes for special occasions, of course – the birthday cakes and Christmas tree biscuits, or Pam’s elegant pudding cakes such as the Seville orange polenta cake – but plenty of others which fulfil a more everyday need.
A slab of fruity ‘Elevenses’ lumberjack cake, a slice of Banana bread or a chunk of Pam’s lovely ‘Bird table’ bread cake are all fantastic ways to fill a hungry gap between breakfast and lunch, or to fuel yourself on a long walk.
And Pam packs so many of her cakes with fruit, seeds and vegetables, as well as the obvious eggs, milk and flour, that she demonstrates time and again that cake can be a sustaining, wholesome option, not just ‘empty calories’.
Pam also has an eye on the clock. She understands that, while it’s lovely to spend an entire afternoon ensconced in the kitchen, turning out Swiss rolls, tray bakes and buns, it’s not always possible.
Consequently, there are plenty of cakes here, including the divine Banana and chocolate cake as well as the classic Victoria sandwich, which you could have on the table, warm and irresistible, within the hour.
And I also love the fact that many of these cakes are great ‘keepers’: invest a little time in mixing and baking them, and they’ll sit happily in a cake tin for days, even weeks – in a few cases, months – improving all the while.
This book, then, is much more than a collection of scrumptious treats to be enjoyed once in a while. It’s a comprehensive call for the revival of cake, in all its many glorious guises.
It’s a celebration of home-baking with good, well-sourced ingredients, an argument for the revival of elevenses and four o’clock tea, an acknowledgement of the simple pleasure of offering a cuppa and a slice of something nice to someone you care about.
You may be a seasoned baker with a string of village-show rosettes to your name – in which case, you will find plenty here to expand your repertoire, and probably garner a few more gongs!
But even if you are a novice who has only dabbled on the shores of flapjacks and fairy cakes, I urge you to feast your eyes on Pam’s work.
These carefully crafted, inspiring and utterly delicious recipes will bring out the baker in you, I promise.
River Cottage Cakes Handbook >
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