Books and cakes - 32

   

   

     "Stephen's mother always made us a beautiful Midsummer cake - the whole family got some of it, but Rose and I never let others join in our rites on the mound ..."

        What might Cassandra's cake have been? Food doesn't feature much in I Capture the Castle (and the family are actually often hungry) so there wasn't a lot to go on. Spoilt potato cakes and burnt porridge are hardly appetising, but happily the Cottons provide better fare for the impoverished Mortmains, including peaches they've sent over from Scoatney.

    The fruit was the key for today's cake, and although here at the end of August we are two months past the longest day, we can still enjoy something redolent of that season; peaches are ripe, blueberries are easily found, so Nigel Slater's 'cake for midsummer' it is.

  It could have been strewn with rose petals, as Nigel sometimes favours and Cassandra might quite like, but it's very good, just as it is (as is the book, I think!).

Comments

[Julie Fredericksen]

This is the perfect cake for the book. But alas, it is too hot to bake here in ND. (104 on Sunday, 99 today).

[Choclette]

The cake sounds delicious and I did enjoy reading the books a few years ago. Don't remember the peaches, so might have to read it again.

[GeraniumCat]

Would you say food doesn't feature much? I think the lack of it features hugely, and Cassandra's pleasure when the hens have laid, for instance, is enormously expressive. But I grew up in a family where food was mostly grim and in rather short supply, and Cassandra's loving descriptions of dining at Scoatney, or of the preparations for the Mortmain's dinner party always stand out for me.

Lovely cake - I may just have changed my plans for this afternoon!

[Nancy]

I had not noticed on the first couple of views of the other site that the girl was holding cornflowers - and, it took another pass on those cakes to finally _see_ it. Duhh! Great pairing there. I think I was more focused on the cake in the beginning, and where there might be a recipe, then following up on that. Glad I came around it again. :-)