This month in our series on what really goes on in a home, we sift some flour to bake bread and pop a cake in the oven
As well as a look at all the cakes we’ve loved before, a glossary of which tin to use, bread making and bread makers, the five types of icing and a list of baking bloggers, we find eight extra somethings for the shopping list.Turn to page 118 for more, or read on for a look at literary cakes.
Classic bakes that have appeared, tantalisingly, in books:
Madeleines
In Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, the narrator eats madeleines and has an olfactory epiphany as he remembers dipping similar cakes in tea with his aunt.
“She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called ‘petites madeleines’ which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim’s shell.”
Ginger Cake
In Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton, ginger cake features in a typical feast:
“Aunt Fanny had made a ginger cake with black treacle. It was dark brown and sticky to eat. The children said it was the nicest they had ever tasted.”
Crumpets
In Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, the narrator thinks longingly of the food they ate at Manderley:
“Those dripping crumpets, I can see them now. Tiny crisp wedges of toast, and piping-hot, flaky scones.”
Key lime pie
In Heartburn by Nora Ephron, a wronged wife throws a key lime pie at her husband:
“The pie I threw at Mark made a terrific mess, but a blueberry pie would have been better since it would have permanently ruined his new blazer.”
Chocolate eclair
In Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, the family’s unlikeable tutor tucks into an éclair:
“Miss Kilman opened her mouth, slightly projected her chin, and swallowed down the last inches of the chocolate éclair.”
Find more cakes in literature at thelittlelibrarycafe.com
More from the October issue:
More Home Truths posts:
