Back in Oxford, at the end of Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall, Paul Pennyfeather goes to tea with Stubbs at Hertford* and eats "honey buns and anchovy toast".
The book has little else to offer by way of food - the boys at Llanabba complain of their pudding, there's pêches Melba at the Hotel Metropole (slight shades of the wonderful Majestic in Troubles?), a perpetual cocktail hour at King's Thursday, and a dinner of bouillabaisse and Meursault for Paul in Marseilles, so honey buns it had to be for our Cornflower Book Group virtual afternoon tea. Luckily, I found a good recipe, and even better, a short video of Valentine Warner making these delicious little things.
Similar to rum babas, the yeasted buns are drenched in a sugar syrup - this one flavoured with orange zest, Cointreau and a flowery honey. You can eat them warm, or do as Valentine suggests and pack them into a Le Parfait jar and refrigerate for up to a month. Serve with whipped cream!
(There's more on the book itself here, and for a comprehensive biographical note on the Hertford alumnus Waugh, see the *college website).
