Lemon Drizzle Cake from The Finding of Martha Lost

I don't think I've ever read a novel that has so many references to cake. (Well, other than the one I'm writing.) Specifically lemon drizzle cake. Lemon drizzle is a popular choice. Just this weekend I read on a tweet that it was JK Rowling's favourite. It certainly is one of mine. And it is definitely very important to Martha and her friend, Elisabeth, in The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace.

So, who is Martha Lost? Well, that's a very good question. And one Martha intends to find the answer to. See, Martha has been lost since she was a little baby. Abandoned on a train to Liverpool she has been waiting in Liverpool Lime Street lost property office for sixteen years. And still, no-one has claimed her.

With the help of her friends: William, the man who lives underneath the station, George Harris, a commuter who wears a Roman soldier uniform, and Elisabeth, who runs the coffee bar next door where she serves delicious cream scones, cherry pie and, of course, a lot of lemon drizzle cake, Martha sets about finding who she is and where she came from.

This is such a magical story. Set against a backdrop of Liverpool, Lime Street railway station and The Beatles it is a story of one young woman's quest to discover answers. Answers that will tell her how her story began.

The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace is out today.

Recipe for Lemon Drizzle Cake inspired by The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace

Equipment

20cm/8 inch round cake tin or a loaf tin: greased and lined with baking parchment, juicer, grater, cocktail stick or skewer, jug.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 225g butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 275g self raising flour
• 4 eggs
• Splash or two of milk
• Zest of two lemons

For the drizzle

• 125g sugar (granulated is best for a really crunchy topping)
• juice of two lemons

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 140 degrees fan.
2. Put all the ingredients for the cake into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
3. Place into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour - 1 hour 15.
4. When baked, leave in the tin, and make small holes all over the surface using a cocktail stick or a skewer.
5. For the drizzle: mix the sugar and lemon juice together in a jug.
6. Whilst the cake is still warm pour the drizzle over the top. Do it slowly to allow the drizzle to soak in.
7. Allow the cake to cool then remove from the tin.

Toffee from The O'Sullivan Twins at St. Clare's

There is something very special about creating a recipe from one of your favourite childhood books. When I made jammy buns from Malory Towers I was so excited as finally, something I'd read about and wondered about for years was coming to life in my kitchen. The very treat enjoyed by Darrell, Sally and Alicia – the characters I'd grown up with. Oh, that was such a great day.

Perhaps it is little surprise, therefore, that I've found another childhood favourite. Another Enid Blyton story with yet another boarding school.

The O'Sullivan Twins, Pat and Isabel, did not want to go to St Clare's. They were cross and acted rather badly about it all. So badly, they become known as the Stuck-Up Twins or the High-and-Mighties. But the school soon licked them into shape, rubbed off their sharp corners and, before you knew it, Pat and Isabel adore the school and are popular and liked.

The Easter term arrives and with it, second former Tessie's birthday. She decides to have a midnight feast with just a few friends including the twins. The girls are all very excited at the thought of meeting up at midnight in the music room and stuffing themselves silly with a big fruit cake, a ginger cake, biscuits and wonderful, sweet, homemade toffee. Plus, of course, ginger beer and sausages. That's right. Sausages for a midnight feast.

This recipe for toffee is great as you don't need a sugar thermometer – just a heavy based pan and a few basic ingredients.

My toffee is dark with a slightly smoky taste. I think I got inspired by the sizzling sausages. If you want it lighter than just boil it for less time.

Homemade toffee inspired by The O'Sullivan Twins at St. Clare's by Enid Blyton

Equipment

• baking tray lined with greased baking parchment
• medium sized, heavy-bottomed or non-stick pan
• wooden spoon
• jug with cold water.

Ingredients

• 200g butter
• 300g caster sugar
• 60ml water
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla

Method

1. In the pan, weigh out the butter, sugar, water, salt and vanilla
2. Heat gently, stir, then once everything has melted turn it up and allow to boil. It will become frothy.
3. Do not stir it once it is boiling as it may crystalize.
4. Turn down the heat slightly and gently boil for between 5 - 10 minutes. The longer you cook it the darker it will be.
5. This toffee will be extremely hot. DO NOT attempt to lick the spoon or touch it in any way.
6. When you want to test if it is ready, put a teaspoon of it into the jug of cold water. If it stays together in a ball, it is done.
7. Pour into the prepared tin and allow to cool.
8. When cold, bash it up.
9. Eat.

Potato Cakes from Tara Road by Maeve Binchy

'...I was wondering if I drove back this way and made you a Caesar salad would you cook those potato cakes?'

Last night I re-wrote my About page and it struck me how long I've been writing about food in literature. It's been over five years, now. Three years writing my Feasting on Romantic Comedy column for Novelicious and two years with my own, now defunct, Feasting on Female Fiction blog. I say defunct, I still have it, it just isn't available to the public at large.

And for good reason. You see, if I look back at those posts I can see the creative 'journey' I've travelled. I cringe a little and think, aw, I really didn't know what I was doing did I? But I did try.

I've been on a massive learning curve over the last few years as I developed my writing and photography and tried to keep up with the rapid changes in social media. At times I felt my head was going to explode with all the information I was taking in. It still does feel a little like this as I transfer domain names from my Helen Redfern blog to this one, A Bookish Baker. And I'm still learning about photography.

But throughout all of this change: the growth of Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Self-hosted blogs, there has been one constant. Books and baking.

One of the first recipes I created for my Novelicous column was actually a post I expanded upon from my defunct blog: Potato Cakes from Maeve Binchy's novel, Tara Road.

I wrote: all of Binchy's books are like a truly satisfying meal; comforting like home cooking and a roaring fire. Quentins, Scarlet Feather, Circle of Friends. They all contains Maeve's trademark magic warmth.

I still think that about Maeve Binchy's work. And I'm incredibly sorry she's now passed away. It may be a cliche but Maeve Binchy's novels are like being embraced by a favourite aunt. She warms you, is gentle with you and entertains as she tells you a captivating story about normal, everyday people.

Potato cakes are not dissimilar to her novels. Made from a normal everyday food item they warm you, comfort you, and wrap you up in a wonderful potato-fuggy embrace.

Potato Cake Recipe

Makes 6-8 potato cakes

Equipment

• Bowl
• Balloon whisk
• Measuring jug
• Frying pan

Ingredients

• 2 large potatoes, peel, cooked and mashed. You're looking for approximately 400g of mashed potato, cooled.
• 100g self-raising flour
• 150ml milk, whisked lightly with a fork
• 2 large eggs
• salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
• oil for frying

1. Take your cooled mashed potato and add in the flour. Stir or mash to remove the lumps.
2. Add the milk and the eggs and stir in. You might find a balloon whisk is useful.
3. Once the thick mixture is smooth stir in the salt and pepper.
4. Heat a frying pan and add a little oil.
5. Place two spoonfuls of the mixture into the frying pan to create one potato cake. If you've space add more mixture to make additional cakes.
6. Cook on a medium heat. You want the cakes to cook through but not burn.
7. Flip over and cook the other side.
8. Serve hot. Maybe with bacon, a fried egg and a dollop of ketchup. Or you could add brown sauce, I'm not prejudiced.

Cheese Scones from The Trouble with Goats & Sheep

I'd only just finished reading chapter one of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep before I had that urge to bake. Cheese scones. I love them and always treat myself to one when we go to the cafe at the John Lewis department store. Yet I'd never made them before.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon is taking the book world by storm. From the title, to the design of the book, to Joanna's writing, this book is stunning, and I am thoroughly enjoying reading it.

It is set during the hot summer of 1976. We have mentions of Penguin biscuits, Angel Delight, Bovril, a cherry Bakewell and Dandelion and Burdock. It is crammed with seventies foodie nostalgia.

Chapter two reminds me of going to church on Sunday mornings during the 80s. Not really listening to the sermon (shh, don't tell anyone), the walk down the hill to the church hall from the church, the hiss of the giant tea urns, the clatter of cups on saucers.

My goodness Joanna's writing has made me remember things I'd forgotten. Like the little kitchen in the church hall, the smell of the tea from muted green cups and the hat my best friend used to wear...

But before I drift off into nostalgia I'm going to bake these cheese scones.

Incidentally I've no wish to recreate Dandelion and Burdock thank you very much.

Recipe for Homemade Scones

• 325g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 85g butter, diced into small pieces
• 400g cheese, grated. (Mature cheddar and red Leicester are a good combination.)
• 160ml milk
• 1 beaten egg to glaze

Equipment

Baking tray lined with baking parchment, pastry cutter (or drinking glass), egg wash brush.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan.
2. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder.
3. Rub in the butter with your finger tips to resemble breadcrumbs.
4. Stir in the grated cheese.
5. Add the milk to the dry ingredients and stir in to create a dough.
6. Once the dough is formed turn out onto a floured surface and flatten gently with your hands to about 2cm thick.
7. Cut out the shapes and place onto baking tray.
8. Re-form left over dough and flatten (gently!) again. Continue until all dough has been used up.
9. Glaze with the beaten egg.
10. Place into oven for about 12-15 minutes.

Jammy Buns from Malory Towers

Oh how I wished I could play lacrosse as a child. I skipped over the fact that I didn't actually know what lacrosse was. But it sounded like serious fun. The achievement of being picked for the team. The support. The friendships. I longed to be a part of it.

Darrell, Sally, Alicia, Belinda, Irene, Mary-Lou from Enid Blyton's Malory Towers. I loved them all. Especially Darrell. Along with their sports matches I loved their plays, their tricks, even their homework; such is the spell Enid Blyton wove over me. I was desperate to go to this school.

In hindsight I think I was influenced by the food.

Two words. Midnight feasts. Down by the natural pool by the sea. Who wouldn't want to take part in all that excitement?

But one of the best feasts would be after the school lacrosse match was played. You would feel exhausted, like you'd just competed yourself. So what better way to recover than by mentally gorging on the delicious food the school provided afterwards for match tea. A smashing tea of sandwiches, jammy buns and fruit cake.

The jammy buns always made my mouth water. I imagined them to be sweetened bread buns, split in half and filled with jam. But obviously, cream has to be added too.  You can never have too much of a good thing.

These buns are the same bun as the Cherry Topped Iced Buns from Tales of Toyland. So you could do both if you so desired.

Recipe for Jammy Buns

Makes 14 buns 

Equipment

Mixing bowl, saucepan, hands for kneading or a mixer with a dough hook attachment, baking sheet.

Ingredients

• 350ml milk
• 25g unsalted butter
• 500g strong white flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 flat dessert spoon caster sugar
• 7g sachet yeast

To serve

• Strawberry jam
• 250 ml double cream, whipped

Method

1. Measure the milk and butter into a saucepan and heat until the butter has melted.
2. Allow to cool so it's lukewarm.
3. In a mixing bowl mix together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast.
4. Pour over the lukewarm milk.
5. Mix. It will be slightly sticky.
6. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes. Or use a mixer with a hook attachment.
7. Turn back into the bowl and cover the bowl in clingfilm. Place somewhere warm and leave for one hour. It should double in size.
8. Knock the dough back to deflate and cut into 14 pieces.
9. Roll into balls and place on a greased baking sheet, well apart from each other.
10. Cover again with clingfilm (only loosely) and allow to rise again for about 15 minutes.
11. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees or 180 fan.
12. Scatter some flour over the buns then place in oven for 10-15 minutes.
13. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
14. Split open and fill with jam and cream.
15. Serve immediately.

Crumpets from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

It's no secret that I wasn't looking forward to reading Rebecca. It was a classic that scared me. Daunted me. Until one day recently I picked it up and read it cover to cover. It's one of those novels that you can't help but continue to think about. It's probably a couple of months since I read it but scenes keep appearing before me. I could be wandering outside and disturb a flock of pigeons roosting in the trees above. In Rebecca du Maurier likens this startled pigeon noise to that of "old ladies caught at their ablutions". I think of this every time a pigeon flutters its wings in that wonderfully, noisy agitated fashion. (I thought of it again this evening on the school run when I saw an agitated pigeon clutching at some ivy and hanging upside down. Yes, just like a bat.)

Mr de Winter Breakfast from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Food makes me think of Rebecca, too. Take marmalade, for example. A simple breakfast preserve. But the preserve of choice for Maxim de Winter. When I see a jar (my husband is rather partial to marmalade) I remember the scene where Maxim is ordering his breakfast of marmalade, toast, coffee, a boiled egg and a tangerine, whilst proposing to our narrator, "I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool."

I like how Daphne du Maurier uses food to enhance their different situations. When the novel begins and they're no longer at Manderley the narrator describes the food as "indifferent". Their afternoon tea, because despite being in a foreign country they stick to their English routine, now consists of bread and butter.

Crumpets from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Compare this indifference to how they ate at Manderley:

"Dripping crumpets...Tiny crisp wedges of toast, and piping-hot, floury scones. Sandwiches of unknown nature, mysteriously flavoured and quite delectable, and that very special gingerbread. Angel cake, that melted in the mouth, and his rather stodgier companion, bursting with peel and raisins."

After reading that paragraph don't you get an urge for crumpets? I've forgotten everything else. I can only think of having crumpets dripping with butter, sitting by the fire. And I don't mean ones from the supermarket. After all, I can't imagine Mrs Danvers would have nipped down to her local supermarket to pick up a packet. No, homemade is the way to truly recreate what Maxim and his second wife would tuck into on an afternoon. And really, what could be nicer?

Recipe for Homemade Crumpets

Equipment

4 crumpet rings or egg rings. (I bought these Ring Moulds cheaply from amazon). Saucepan, frying pan, large bowl, wooden spoon, soup ladle.

Ingredients

• 275ml milk
• 50ml water
• 1 x 7g packet of fast action yeast
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 225g strong white bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil

To serve

• Lots and lots of butter

Method

1. In the saucepan gently warm the milk and water until there are little bubbles around the edges. Remove from the heat and allow to cool so it is just warm.
2. Remove from the heat, add the yeast and sugar, mix well, then leave in a warm place, covered with a tea-towel, for about ten minutes. The milk will become nice and frothy.
3. In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and mix in the milk.
4. Beat well with a wooden spoon.
5. Leave in a warm place, covered with a tea-towel, for about one hour.
6. Prepare your saucepan by greasing lightly with the sunflower oil. Grease your crumpet rings, too.
7. When the mixture is ready (it will have risen to about twice the size and have air holes), heat the frying pan to a medium heat and pour in ladles of mixture into the rings.
8. Allow to cook on one side for about five minutes or so. The crumpet rings should slip off once cooked, so remove and flip each crumpet over for one to two minutes to allow to cook on the other side. Re-grease your pan and rings to do another batch.
9. Serve immediately or, allow to cool, then pop into the toaster when ready.

Cherry Topped Iced Buns from Tales of Toyland

I feel incredibly nostalgic when I see this lilac, hardback edition of Enid Blyton's Tales of Toyland. There's a lovely picture of Tiptoe, the fairy doll and Jolly, the sailor doll, welcoming the toys into their home, one they made themselves out of toy bricks, for their first ever party. I just adored the world that Enid Blyton had created. I mean, fancy being able to go to a toy warehouse, in Toyland, and choosing a house design, building it in two days, then adding furniture from yet more boxes. For a small child this sounded like serious fun. This 1970's reprint was quite possibly the first book I ever wanted to jump right into and join in the adventures.

But how did Tiptoe and Jolly end up in building their own house in Toyland? Well, they were rather ill-treated by the toys they shared a nursery with and decided to run away. Off they went, asking the way from a hedgehog, a mouse and a brownie. The latter directed them to a rabbit hole, down which they found an underground train station. Squeezing into the train with various elves, brownies, fairies, rabbits and moles they found themselves speeding along to Toyland. It was an absolute delight to read.

When they finally arrived at Toyland, and were allowed in (this wasn't as straightforward as they'd anticipated), they built their house and filled it with furniture. Then they needed to have a party to meet their neighbours. They invited the clock-work clown, the toy soldiers, Mr To-and-Fro (one of those wobbly toys that wouldn't lie flat - remember them?), the toy duck and the bunny with the pink ribbon.

Tiptoe and Jolly decided to serve egg sandwiches, creamy milk and buns with cherries on top. When disaster strikes and they don't have any milk or eggs, Mr To-and-Fro suggests inviting Mrs Buttercup, a cow with beautiful manners, and Mrs Cluck, Mrs Cackle and Mrs Squawk, who would lay them an egg each.

And a great party is had by all.

Seven-year-old-me would have loved to have gone to that party. Egg sandwiches? Buns with cherries on top? (I ignored the milk part, I wasn't a fan). Guests that laid the food?! So as a treat to my seven-year-old-self, I've recreated those buns.

Recipe for Cherry Topped Iced Buns Inspired by Tales of Toyland 

Makes 20 buns (approx – depends on your sizing)

Equipment

Mixing bowl, saucepan, hands for kneading or a mixer with a dough hook attachment, baking sheet.

Ingredient

• 350ml milk
• 25g unsalted butter
• 500g strong white flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 flat dessert spoon caster sugar
• 7g sachet yeast

To decorate

• 200g Icing sugar
• 20 cherries

Method

1. Measure the milk and butter into a saucepan and heat until the butter has melted.
2. Allow to cool so it is lukewarm.
3. In a mixing bowl add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast.
4. Pour over the lukewarm milk. You might not need all of it so take it slow.
5. Mix. It will be slightly sticky.
6. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes. It'll become smooth.
7. Turn back into the bowl and cover the bowl in clingfilm. Place somewhere warm and leave for one hour. It should double in size.
8. Knock the dough back to deflate and cut into 20 pieces.
9. Roll into balls and place on a greased baking sheet, well apart from each other.
10. Cover again with clingfilm (only loosely) and allow to rise again for about 15 minutes.
11. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees or 180 fan.
12. Scatter some flour over the buns then place in oven for 10-15 minutes.
13. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
14. Prepare your icing sugar according to packet instructions, place a spoonful on the top of each bun and add a cherry.

Fish Pie from The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

I was reading The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett at the weekend and it got me thinking about the first dinner party I'd hosted with my husband in our very first house. There were six of us, two sets of neighbours, squashed together around a small drop-leaf table in the cramped dining room. I can't remember what I served, possibly a lamb stew, or even roasted ratatouille with some sort of meat, but I know it wouldn't have been a fish pie like Eve serves in the novel for her first dinner party. I was scared of cooking with fish back then. Even in a fish pie. And, despite my love of cooking and even bigger love of feeding people, I'm not a natural dinner party hostess. It just seems too grown up. I envied Eve's ability to be so relaxed despite no help from her husband, Jim, and I envied Eve's ability to make a fish pie.

The Versions of Us is an unusual love story in that it gives us three possible versions of Eve and Jim's future. Beginning in Cambridge, 1958, when their lives first cross, or almost cross depending on whether it's version one, two or three, we follow their lives as they progress through love, marriage, children, careers, travel, life's ups and downs, divorces and grandchildren.

Slightly sceptical initially, after all, how was I going to keep up with the different narratives and characters in three versions, my scepticism evaporated as I was drawn into the seamless way in which Laura Barnett structured the story. It is one of those books that just grips you. Clutches at your heart so you feel breathless; coming up for air into the reality of your own life where you question which version you are living in at the moment. Is it one, two or three?

My emotions were all over the place. Do I like Jim? Am I frustrated with Eve, or do I admire her? But not only were my emotions all over the place within the context of the story, it made me think about my own life. When you're given a complete overview of a life, you see where characters miss opportunities, where their own weaknesses have let them down. It gives you perspective. A desire not to miss opportunities in my own life story.

So I've stopped being scared of cooking fish and made a fish pie. It's only a small thing. But hopefully all the small things will become big things so that if I were to be given an overview of my life, I'd think, yes, I tried hard, I didn't squander the opportunities and I did good.

Fish Pie Recipe

This is my no-fuss, no anxiety, recipe for fish pie. The only fish I had in the freezer was salmon fillets so I used those, but don't be afraid to use any fish, including smoked, or adding a handful of prawns.

Equipment

Saucepan, potato masher, baking dish (a hob to oven dish would be perfect).

Ingredients

• 1kg potatoes, peeled and halved
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 leek
• 1 spring onion
• two tablespoons flour
• 250ml milk
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 400-500g boneless fish of your choice, skinned and diced into 2cm square (aprox) pieces
• a few handfuls of sweetcorn or peas (or both)
• 2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
• salt and pepper

Method

1. Begin by placing the potatoes on to boil. When soft, drain and mash with butter, a little milk and salt and pepper.
2. Pre-heat oven to 160 fan.
3. While the potatoes are cooking gently fry the leek and spring onion in the butter for a few minutes.
4. Add the flour and stir.
5. Using a whisk add the milk a little at a time.
6. Bring to a gentle boil until thickened, stirring all the time.
7. Stir in the mustard then turn off the heat.
8. Scatter over the fish, sweetcorn, peas and hard boiled eggs.
9. Scoop the mashed potato onto the top and spread out with a fork.
10. Place into the oven for 30 minutes.

Scones from The Drowning of Arthur Braxton

I first wrote about a cake featuring in The Drowning of Arthur Braxton by Caroline Smailes two years ago in my Novelicious column. In this highly anticipated novel, as ever, when reading a Caroline Smailes book, I was astounded by her unique writing and her ability to completely and utterly reel you in, despite the sometimes disturbing nature of the subject matter.

I've followed Caroline's writing career from almost the beginning and so was delighted to read that The Drowning of Arthur Braxton is being turned into a film. Funds have been raised via Kickstarter, the target of which they have surpassed, and it is just in the process of getting underway. You can read more about it on their Facebook page.

So, I'm celebrating for Caroline with scones.

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton focuses on adolescence and the pain that comes with it. It's also about love.

Love comes along in many guises. Even as a cake.

Laurel, a school girl, is working and earning money at The Oracle, an old Edwardian bathhouse. The Oracle is a place where people go to get healed by the three water healers: Madame Pythia, Martin Savage and Silver.

Because of Laurel's life at home, when someone shows her kindness, no matter how small, it is a Big Event. She would get smarties from Silver and, from Ada Harvey, one of the customers requesting healing, she would often get a fairy cake or a scone.

People who bake often like to foist their homemade goods on to other people. I know, because I'm one of them. It is their way of showing affection. A way of showing they care. Nourishment to feed the body and soul wrapped up in a piece of kitchen paper.

By baking a scone, a baked good that has all the comfort of bread, but with a dash of sugar to inject that delicious treat, Ada Harvey has touched Laurel. And Laurel devours that scone as though she hasn't eaten properly for a week. (And to be fair, she probably hasn't.)

I like my scones with jam and cream, or when cream is lacking, covered with a centimetre of butter. But there is no clotted cream or creamy butter for Laurel - I think Laurel might have her scone smeared with just a touch of margarine. Mind you, I don't think she cares if it's plain.

Recipe for Homemade Scones

• 325g self raising flour
• 40g caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 85g butter, diced into small pieces
• 160ml milk
• 1 beaten egg to glaze

Equipment

Baking tray lined with baking parchment, pastry cutter (or drinking glass), egg wash brush.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan.
2. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
3. Rub in the butter with your finger tips to resemble breadcrumbs.
4. Add the milk to the dry ingredients and stir in.
5. Once the dough is formed turn out onto a floured surface and flatten gently with your hands to about 2cm thick.
6. Cut out the shapes and place onto baking tray.
7. Re-form left over dough and flatten (gently!) again. Continue until all dough has been used up.
8. Glaze with the beaten egg.
9. Place in oven for about 12-15 minutes.
10. Serve plain, with clotted cream and jam or butter.

Ginger Cake from The Island of Adventure

There is something terribly Enid Blyton-ish about ginger cake. It's not the most glamorous cake to look at, it is not terribly exciting but it is perfect for comfort, for filling hungry tummies and, best of all, for picnics. You can wrap one up easily, especially if baked like a loaf, and cut huge chunks off in the open air. And that's when the ginger cake comes into its own. When you are outside picnicking you do get so terribly hungry. A piece of sticky ginger cake, scented with ginger and other spices, is just the right cake to round off sandwiches with tea from a thermos. The Island of Adventure is the first in the adventure series for Philip and Dinah Mannering along with Jack and Lucy-Ann. Both sets of siblings live with an uncle. Jack and Lucy-Ann because they have no parents. And Philip and Dinah because their mum is working to support them.

When Jack and Lucy-Ann's uncle cannot take them back after a few weeks of being coached at a teacher's house, they decide, without permission of the adults, to travel with Philip to Craggy-Tops where his aunt and uncle live and Dinah was waiting for him to return.

And that's where the adventure begins. From Craggy-Tops they can see the Isle of Gloom. And for Jack, a keen bird-watcher, it offered a wonderland of bird watching opportunities. They see a man sailing around and go and investigate. It's Bill Smugs and he offers to take them out in the boat. Their aunt gives them sandwiches, ginger cake and tea in a thermos flask. Perfect.

The only trouble is, when they finally do land on the island, they find something other than birds...

Recipe for Ginger Cake

Equipment

Small saucepan, mixing spoon, whisk and bowl, 2lb loaf tin and liner.

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 125g black treacle
• 75g golden syrup
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 3 heaped tsp ground ginger
• 2 heaped tsp mixed spice
• 150ml milk
• Squeeze of lemon
• 225g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 140 fan.
2. Weigh the butter, treacle, syrup, sugar, ginger and mixed spice into a small saucepan. Heat gently until the butter and sugar have melted.
3. Add a squeeze of lemon to the milk. (It will make it lumpy - creating 'buttermilk'.)
4. Weigh out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Give it a whisk to ensure its evenly distributed.
5. Add the syrupy mixture to the flour. Whisk to ensure all lumps of flour have gone.
6. Beat two eggs in with the milk mixture. Then add that to the cake mixture too. Make sure it is well combined.
7. Pour into your lined tin and place in the oven for one hour.
8. This cake will last ages as long as well wrapped or in an airtight container.

Lardy Cake from Riders

Lardy Cake and Rupert Campbell-Black. A strange combination – yet they have something in common. Both you want oh so very much, but you absolutely know that neither will do your health – or your heart – any good whatsoever. Yes, I'm talking Riders by Jilly Cooper, which is where Rupert Campbell-Black first makes an appearance. I'm ashamed to say I've only just read Riders. I was, however, slightly daunted at the whopping 915 pages. NINE hundred! But on an enforced time out I devoured it and thought it was fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the fact – or maybe even because of it – it is set in the 70s. I completely immersed myself in the world and found myself dreaming about horses despite not being a very horsey person.

I know many a woman love to love the love-rat that is Rupert Campbell-Black. So many of them are charmed by his good looks, his charisma, and his arrogance. My ace Novelicious colleague Cesca, described him in this post about heroes as "arrogant, witty, dangerous, loyal and HOT." He's a brute, a womanizer and a cad. Women know this, yet they still find him completely attractive. As Helen felt (not me, Helen, but the one in the novel): "Rupert was simply the most wrong but entirely romantic person she'd ever met. She was appalled how violently she felt attracted to him."

Personally I preferred some of the other males in the story. But I do understand that none has the sheer magnetism that RCB has. Me? Well, give me a lardy cake, any day.

The lardy cake actually appears in the novel during the story of Jake, who utterly and completely loathes RCB. He's with his future wife, Tory. They've both gone to see Tory's Granny, to get her approval (and money) for their marriage and the cook, who still thinks Tory is a small child, serves them with lardy cake and gingerbread men.

Lardy cake is not actually a cake but a sweet bread, made with yeast. It's simple to make so please do not be horrified by the lard in it. It is delicious. And yes you shouldn't have too much of it. But sometimes, like the women who are charmed by Rupert, you just have to try a bit.

This is the first time I've made lardy cake. And the first time I've tasted it. It is so good. I could, quite frankly, eat a whole one (but I won't), which I'm sure is what Cesca would say if she saw Rupert Campbell-Black in the flesh.

I used the recipe from The River Cottage but baked it in a loaf tin.

Rice Pudding from The Secret Island

Oh rice pudding! How I do adore this simple nursery food. Not just any old nursery food, but the ultimate in nursery food.

It is a pudding that reminds me of my childhood; of safety and security. A dish that scents the house in a wonderful homely smell with just a hint of nutmeg. It is a pudding that comforts and brings warmth to the body and to the mind. The Secret Island by Enid Blyton, funnily enough, does the same as this pudding. I cherished it as a child and have re-read it many times. Even as an adult a re-read of this book comforts when I need it most.

When Jack, along with siblings: Mike, Peggy and Nora, ran away to the secret island in the middle of the lake, they took as much food as they could lay their hands on. Unfortunately this wasn't much as their horrible aunt and uncle ran a tight ship. Even so:

"Nora crept indoors and went to the larder. What could she take that Aunt Harriet would not notice that morning? Some tea? Yes! A tin of cocoa from the top shelf. A packet of currants and a tin of rice from the store shelf, too."

And thank goodness Nora managed to grab that rice. With the copious amounts of milk they had, thanks to Daisy the cow, and this tin of rice, Peggy was able to make a rice pudding on their campfire. Its magical comfort was much needed one evening when Nora slipped up on her responsibilities which affected all of them. Nora felt ashamed of her behaviour and upset because the other three were cross with her. But once it turned out right in the end, a steaming bowl of rice pudding was set in front of her.

Now, I'm not sure if they still had sugar at this point to sweeten the rice pudding. But these children were amazing at foraging. They found wild raspberries, wild strawberries and blackberries. I'm sure one of these fruits was used to add sweetness to the pudding.

And then, as Nora ate, her belly becoming full from the rich creamy milk, the rice pudding would cloak her with warmth, comfort and make everything seem better.

Surely, as a child runaway on a secret island who has escaped a horrible aunt and uncle, living outdoors with no modern comforts, it is the perfect pudding.

Equipment

A deep baking dish greased with butter.

Ingredients

• 115g short grain rice
• 50g sugar
• 2 pints full cream milk
• Nutmeg OR vanilla

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 140 fan.
2. Place the rice, sugar, milk and nutmeg into the baking dish and stir.
3. Place in the oven for a couple of hours. (Check after an hour or so.)
4. Serve with jam or fresh foraged fruit like blackberries.