Books and cakes - 46

    For all their study of Ancient Greek civilization and their appreciation of the finer things in life, Henry, Bunny, Francis, Camilla and Charles, the classics students at the centre of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, don't manage to eat particularly well. Various references to Pop Tarts, doughnuts, rolls and jam and a cheesecake filched from a college fridge were insufficient to inspire cake-making in the spirit of the book, so I had to look for another cue, and I found it in a scene in which Henry is polishing the leaves of his rose bushes, and indicating his Mme Isaac Pereire, tells Richard that its flowers smell of raspberries.

    So, I googled "recipe, Greek, cake, raspberries", and up came this, which being American-style and incorporating Greek yogurt and the berries Henry's rose evokes, is enough to represent the book in baked form. I set to, but as I was making it I had the distinct feeling that it was familiar and I'd done it before, and so when I put it in the oven I searched the Cornflower archives to check, and lo! I was right. We had it over two years ago to go with the Iris Murdoch. Oh well, it is a good cake and worth repeating, and come to think of it, the two novels share some common ground, so the choice is apt enough.

    If you make it, might I suggest using a tin slightly smaller than the 23cm one specified as it produces a pretty thin cake (hence my much shorter baking time), and if you follow the link above to its first appearance here you'll see I felt more raspberries were in order. Pity I hadn't read my own note before it went into the oven today.

    Our thoughts on The Secret History itself are here.

Edited to add: It ocurs to me that anyone arriving at this site for the first time may be mystified by the above post - if so, click here (and scroll down) and all should become clear.