"As the dawn was just breaking he found himself close to Covent Garden. The darkness lifted, and, flushed with faint fires, the sky hollowed itself into a perfect pearl. Huge carts filled with nodding lilies rumbled slowly down the polished empty street. The air was heavy with the perfume of the flowers, and their beauty seemed to bring him an anodyne for his pain. He followed into the market and watched the men unloading their waggons. A white-smocked carter offered him some cherries. He thanked him wondered why he would not accept any money for them, and began to eat them listlessly. They had been plucked at midnight and the coldness of the moon had entered into them."
In a novel rather lacking in references to food (and, amazingly, the fortieth book the CBG has read), I've taken Dorian Gray's Covent Garden ramblings and made little cakes with ground almonds and cherry compote, split open and accompanied with more of the cherries and some crème fraîche. Given the book's aesthetic bent, I was wondering whether I had any suitably Wildean artefacts with which to decorate the picture, but lacking anything that might figure in the V& A's Cult of Beauty exhibition, Mr. C. suggested this 'stylish' and relevant piece of china -
Osacr might have quite liked it, in an ironic sort of way...
Our thoughts on The Picture of Dorian Gray are here, and if you want to make the cakes, take 100g. of butter and 100g. of caster sugar and beat for five minutes until very white and creamy. Mix in two beaten eggs, and gently fold in 50g. of ground almonds, 50g. of self-raising flour and a teaspoon of baking powder. Spoon about two thirds of this mixture into muffin/cupcake tins lined with paper cases, then add a heaped teaspoon or so of cherry compote (I used Bonne Maman) and top with the rest of the cake mixture. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at Gas 4 or the equivalent. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm or cold, on their own or with cream or mascarpone and more cherries - and never mind the lunar chill, normal refrigeration will suffice.
