Photo by Laura Edwards
“It can be so easy to get lost and caught up in the rhythms of the week,” writes Bejamina Ebuehi in this wonderful follow-up to The New Way to Cake, "but let the kitchen — however big or small — be a space in which you let loose, slow down and are present. Because every day is a good day to bake."
Well, I couldn’t agree more! And, as accomplished and skilful as Ebeuhi is, the recipes in this book are accessible enough to allow those without her expertise to understand just how comforting and rewarding baking can be. But if the recipes are simple — some more than others, to be sure, but none need an experienced hand — Ebuehi’s talent is for bringing a complexity of flavour and intriguingly unfamiliar combinations of ingredients to bakes, sweet and savoury. This might mean Thyme-Sugar Churros, Bay Leaf Custard Tart or Tarragon Blondies; Cherry Cardamom Cream Buns or Miso & White Chocolate Cookies. And I also have to mention to you her Brown Sugar Custard, Sticky Toffee Treacle Tart, Chocolate & Date Fruit Cake, and — particularly compelling — Irish Cream Toffee Lamingtons. But I shouldn’t ignore the savoury side, so let me just bring a few of these lovelies to your attention: the Spring Onion & Comté Buns, which call to me most insistently; as do the Potato & Cauliflower Curry Pie; the Spiced Lamb Sausage Rolls; the Goose-Fat Potato Focaccia; and the Sweet Potato, Chorizo & Spinach Turnovers.
But it is from the sweet side that the recipe I just had to share with you comes and, to be more precise, from the chapter called Best of Beige, something I’m all for! I love a plain cake, I love brown butter, and I love the rich cosy flavour of malt, so of course I had to bring you her Malted Brown Butter Pound Cake. And I hope you enjoy making it every bit as much as eating it!
A Good Day to Bake by Benjamina Ebuehi (Quadrille, £22) is out now.
Photography by Laura Edwards.
