The Baker’s Daughter by Louise Johncox – Review
I can’t tell you how excited I am about the recent release of The Baker’s Daughter – Timeless Recipes from Four Generations of Bakers by Louise Johncox (Macmillan). Why you may wonder? Well Louise’s dad Peter owned Peter’s tea shop in Weybridge where he baked bread, made all manner of cakes and savouries as well as creating a fine array of home-made chocolates oh and I nearly forgot his jams and marmalade. When Peter married Frankie (Louise’s mum) she became the familiar face of Peter’s serving all the customers. I spent my childhood and beyond either having tea in the team room or popping in for sweet and savoury bakes. If ever we had unexpected visitors that needed feeding, Peter’s was like an extension to our kitchen being just a short walk away. As a young child I would be treated to my favourite iced animal biscuit from the shop and as I got older I loved all the cream cakes (the strawberry tart in summer was sublime) and the Danish pastries. When we had lunch in the tea room it always had to be Welsh Rarebit with a tiny dish of English mustard as nowhere else made them as good!
Peter’s were in Weybridge from 1958 until 2000 when they closed due to Peter’s retirement. Peter worked 14 hour days, 6 days a week and only ever had 1 day off sick. During my whole time as a customer I never saw Peter once but just his hands through the serving hatch in the tea room. When Peter’s closed it was the end of an era and a very sad day for Weybridge. For years after we kept reminiscing about the loss of such a wonderful place and really missed our Welsh Rarebits in particular. Peter’s had played such a huge part in our lives whether it was for our everyday needs, our birthday cakes (I remember a netball one for my 15th vividly), my sister’s christianing cake or splendid chocolate eggs at easter time.
What I hadn’t realised was that Peter came from a long line of pastry chefs and both his parents and grandparents ran tea shops. In Louise’s quest to write a memoir of her time at Peter’s, so started a journey of the culinary variety, when she started learning how to bake from her now retired father and a physical journey to Poschiavo a village on the Swiss Italian border to trace her ancestors. Louise’s book really is a labour of love as she extracted recipes from Peter that had never written down put them into domestic quantities. No mean feat from a baker that just did things by instinct and never once timed anything in the oven but just knew when a loaf etc was ready!
It’s a fitting tribute that Albert Roux OBE, KFO has written the foreward to this book as he understands what it is to run a family business and all the hard work that goes with it. Without Louise’s book generations of recipes would have been lost and that would have been such a shame. Whether you knew Peter’s or not this book is full of fabulous recipes for everything from their famous gooey cream meringues, almond macaroons (a favourite of my mum’s), custard creams (one of dad’s favourites) to the wonderful Welsh Rarebit that we all missed so much! In addition there are some recipes from Frankie which include fudge, chutneys and jam. The first recipe I baked from the book was Frankie’s Lemon Drizzle Cake which was totally gorgeous and intensely lemony!
My 1st attempt at Frankie’s Lemon Drizzle Cake which nearly ended in disaster as I was so busy reminiscing I picked up the wrong flour so added baking powder at the last minute!
Who knew as a little girl, seeing Louise in the tea shop as we both grew up, that one day I would be reviewing her book and be able to re-create all the wonderful sweet and savoury bakes from my childhood? Most of you reading this will not have experienced Peter’s but you can capture a bygone era, a wonderful story and generations of wonderful recipes in this remarkable book. Each chapter shares a moment of time in Peter’s history with a mixture of funny and poignant memories which lead into each collection of recipes. Peter may not be with us any longer but his legacy will now live on through this wonderful tribute!
I give this book 5/5 for the stories and all the wonderful recipes you’ll want to make.
Louise will be doing a book signing at Weybridge Books on 26th April from 2pm.
If you’d like the chance to win 1 of 2 copies of The Baker’s Daughter rrp £20 then just enter the rafflecopter below and tell me “which cake brings back memories of your childhood?”
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Disclaimer: Many thanks to Macmillan for my copy of The Baker’s Daughter by Louise Johncox and the prizes, all opinions are my own and I was not paid for this post.
Feeling lucky? Why not enter one of my other fab competitions?
Pennie Riley
I love banana loaf, one of my all time favourites
Natalie Crossan
Marble cake 🙂
Caroline Anne Bellamy
rock cakes made by my Nan – lovely memories!
mummy ms memories
they look so delicious… my mum used to bake a big breadpudding in a huge roasting tray… cheap and cheerful… even better when still warm!
mummy ms memories
They look so delicious…
Susan Carruthers
Butterfly Buns, my Mum always used to bake them.
Patricia Avery
Grandma’s rough cake, a sort of poor man’s Christmas cake but nowhere near as rich. She used to put in whatever was left in the cupboard so it never quite tasted the same twice but it was always delicious 🙂
aaron milne
Battenberg
denise cross
just a simple Victoria Sponge cake.
aisha
chocolate fairy cakes with chocolate buttercream icing
taja mckenzie
coconut cake
Samantha Freeman
Victoria Sponge, I remember mum baking every weekend and always made one of these whilst I eagerly awaited the bowl to clean!!
jannette roden
Mine would have to be butterfly cakes filled with buttercream what my nan used to make x
Julia Morris
My childhood cake memory takes me back to my nan’s bread pudding tray bake. She used to make it every weekend for when the family visit and we took huge slabs of it home with us. My boyfriend makes it now and it always takes me back to those days in nannies kitchen, waiting for my slice 🙂
Richard Eldred Hawes
Songe with butter cream filling
Jen Boucher
Apple pandowdy. It was the first cake my Nan taught me to make -and the only one i still remember the recipe for!
Natalie Henderson
Layer cake with fresh whipped cream and tinned mandarin segments. I still love it!! 🙂
Lucy Irving
apple pie
Louise Johnson
Marble cake – My grandma made this amazing cake which was made up of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry sponge.
Janine Atkin
vanilla biscuits (not cake i know). my mum used to make them at night for us to eat the next day
Gillian Holmes
Victoria Sponge sandwich
Sheri Darby
My grandmother’s chocolate mousse cake
Sheila Reeves
Seed cake, although I wasn’t keen on it at the time it was a family staple, both grandmothers made it and my Mum too
Kristy Brown
Lemon cake – my great aunts was the bees knees
Lyndsey Beckford
Clootie Dumpling – my gran made the best dumpling in the world! 🙂
Mary Baldwin
Simnel cake – everyone always had Christmas cake, but at Easter hardly anyone had simnel cake and I just love the special flavour still.
Ali Thorpe
My mum’s aunt, who is Polish, makes a flourless cake with ground almonds and it would always be the centrepiece on special occasions. I still adore that cake now!309
jodie harvey
christmas cake, always used to help mum make ours 🙂
Kirsteen Mackay
Chocolate birthday cake
Jo-Anne holton
Chocolate cake made by my nanna!!!
Jennifer Rhymer
Fairy cakes as I used to make them & take them into the school for their summer fayre
Holly edmundson
Has to be the chocolate caterpillar cat 🙂 I use to get one for every birthday haha 🙂 xx
Diana
Victoria Sponge 🙂
Sarah Hurrell
Victoria sponge. Every weeked my nan would cook one for the following week.
Kelly Hooper
Butterfly cakes, my eldest sister used to make them with me, I now make them with my daughter 🙂
Hazel Christopher
Battenberg, my nans favourite x
Michelle Kemp
Date & walnut loaf
Hannah Ingham
Victoria Sandwich Cake! 🙂
Sarah Rees
Batternburg – My great grandmother used to serve it with squash
Saran Benjamin
My grans Bake Stones yum
lindsey stuart
My Grannies lovely homemade carrot cake it was lovely!!! sooooo yummy
Amy J
Lemon cake that my great grandma used to make 🙂
Lani Nash
Lemon Drizzle cake
Hannah
Butterfly cakes a lady up the road used to make us some and we would be sent to collect them
Joanne Welsh
Chocolate gateaux because we used to have it for dessert every sunday.
Marie
Maple walnut! Because it reminds me of growing up in Canada. The Maple Leaf Forever!
laura jones
pineapple upside down cake it was the first cake i was taught to cook
Christine Watson
I love sponge cake, jammy middle and icing on top
Ellen Nixon
Victoria sponge cake – a birthday treat – yummy
Alice Megan
Chocolate caterpillar cakes! Reminds me of childhood birthdays
Keith H
Angel Cake
Miss. Lucinda Fountain
A cake that brings back wonderful memories of childhood, would have to be a traditional victoria sponge cake – with lots of jam and even more cream!
It is something that i used to bake with my mother all the time, using my grandmother’s simple family recipie.
Thanks so much for the fab book giveaway! x
Tamsin Dean
always victora sponge as my grandma made them fantastic
Gillyann
Got to be Crispy Chocolate Cornflake cakes
Debra E
Teisen Lap – A sour milk Welsh fruit cake.
June Etherington
Gypsy Tart. Used to have it at school many years ago. I still make my own today & I’m now retired.
caroline henaghan
My Grandma’s cherry cake – so moist and beautifully sweet! It was my grandma who taught me to bake, but I have never yet been able to match her cherry cake x
lisa
my mums almond sponge cake lushhhh !!
Sandra M
My Mums chocolate sponge with fresh cream – I still make it now!
kim neville
my mum was always making us victoria sponge
Tina Lawton
Eccles cakes with my mum and gran on Saturday shopping trips 🙂
Bethan Palmer
Welsh Cakes, my Nan used to make them!
Kathryn
Millionaire’s shortbread as it was a birthday treat 🙂
Gem
Victoria sponge.
Andrea
Fairy cakes
clair downham
maderia cake
ESME MCCRUBB
JAM SPONGE
Rachael Barratt
Victoria sponge- without fail we had one of these every birthday!
dawn Wilkinson
Chocolate Butterfly Buns with mint flavoured green butter icing
Janine Phillips
Dark Ginger cake with white icing on top
Sheryl Keene
Angel food cake
Janice Papworth
butterfly cakes and jam tarts with buttercream on top
Cathy James
victoria sponge
pam Lawrence
Battenburg – it was always my favourite, and it reminds me of going with my grandmother to see my “courtesy” aunty Gwen singing in what nan always called “cat’s choir”! They always had a tea spread out in the middle of the concert, and I always chose the plate with the battenburg on!!
emma falvi
fairy cakes
Lorna Craig
Cream horns, Mum was a great baker and I remember coming home from school to the smell of baking but these were my favourite 🙂
Kirsty Fox
Welsh Cakes, our neighbour used to make them
milli
Jam buns
Karen Barrett
Victoria sponge
Katherine L
A lemon poppy seed cake
Lorna MacFadyen
we used to make amazing peanut cookies along with an array of different things with my granny.. She was a brilliant baker but was Coealic so always watched for our reactions to her cakes. I wish she lived a little longer, nowadays there is such an amazing gluten free range out there she would of been able to indulge!
J Causer
Victoria sponge
Kay panayi
Chocolate cake
Helen Humphries
Actually the cheap stuff like jam donuts and iced buns.
Nicola
My Gran’ s pancakes 🙂
Vikki
My mum used to make fairy cakes with the little wings. I’ve tried to do them myself but they’re never quite as good.
Camilla
They’re Butterfly Cakes, I loved them as a kid too:-)
Solange
Victoria Sponge
NYCSavage
My wife would love this book!
Camilla
It’s so good, showed it to a friend the other night who wanted it too!
Jo Glasspool
jam sponge x
Gill Thom
rock cakes
Annie Costa
fluffy cheesecake with raspberry or cherry topping
Judith Allen
Cherry and walnut cake – I don’t remember, but it gets told still, how our young labrador ate most of one from the cooling rack. Still a favourite cake, but I couldn’t quite eat that much.
Linda spevick
Fairy cakes
Hannah ONeill
Victoria Sandwich! Yummy
Emma Baker
Angel Cake!
Rebecca Beesley
iced buns
Winnie
fairy cakes 😀
Winnie
fairy cakes in school charity sell 😀
foz
Victoria sponge
Maya Russell
Sachertorte, which my mum makes as birthday cakes!
Always so rich and with apricot jam in the middle.Yum.
Deon van Schalkwyk
Angel Cake – My mum always used to make it for us for Christmas dinner!
sandra hastings
Victoria Sponge with Strawberry Jam.
claire woods
Battenberg cake – my nanny used to put it on the table for tea on a Sunday night.
Laura Pritchard
My mum’s Ginger cake
Ursula Hunt
Angel cake, it was my mum’s speciality, it reminds me of picnics in the very hot summer of 1975 ( I think thats the year but it was in the seventies)
Carol Massey
Manchester tart (school version)
Liane
Victoria sponge with homemade jam
REBECCA TOWNSEND
Coffee and walnut cake
teresa maxwell
My mum used to make marble cake and put pink and white marshmallows on it when it was warm out of the oven. Then she would top with melted chocolate. It was a super cake and I cannot recreate it as well as she made it.
jenny morgan
lemon drizzle mums fav
Tammy Tudor
coffee cake 🙂
Suzanne
Coffee and walnut brings back happy memories and was regularly baked at home.
Karen Whittaker
Coconut sponge as my grandma used to bake it when we went to stay
jodie yorke
currant cake.
Kat Lucas
German chocolate cake as my Grandmother used to make it often for Sunday dinners
Mark Witherington
Fruit cake
Marycarol
Battenberg cake was a real treat when I was a child – used to love all the colours and marzipan!
Patricia Whittaker
We always had Angel Cake on Sundays
Jo Jones
Battenburg
Julie's Family Kitchen
A Victoria Sandwich cake filled with jam.
kirsty l
not so much of a cake but bakewell tarts remind me of my nans kitchen 🙂
Sandra Clarke
A Victoria Sponge was the norm or butterfly cakes.
Val Hartley
Date & walnut
sylvia
Has to be chocolate Fudge cake for me xxxooo
melanie stirling
Pineapple upsidedown cake,we had that loads at school.
Lynne D
Rock cakes and Victoria sponge because mom used to make these on a Sunday.
Richard Randall
Sounds like a great book.
Jan Wroblewski
A honey and walnut/almond cake
chris hunt
Swiss roll because I learnt hot to make it and then made it every week until we were all sick of it.
Jane Willis
Chocolate eclairs – a passion I shared with my grandmother and we would secretly feast on them whenever she looked after me for the day.
CHRISTINE ANDREWS
Which cake brings back memories of your childhood?
Parkin – it’s a Lancashire cake, dark and sticky made with treacle, which my mum used to bake
Avril Luke
Oo it sounds like a fabulous place! Would love to win a copy and make some treats with my teen 🙂 Pre-teens I grew up in Scotland so my treats from the bakery were either a Scottish Pineapple Cake or some Empire Biscuits – yum! Not managed to get hold of them for years and years.
pete cleasby
swiss rolls
Choclette
What a fabulous sounding book. This is ringing a lot of bells, I’m wondering if I heard her talk on the radio.
Rock cakes mean childhood to me. They were my mother’s bake of choice – she made fabulous puddings but not that much cake.
Camilla
Peter’s did rock cakes too;-) You probably did hear her on the radio as the book has only just been released:-)
Corina
a pineapple upside down cake.
lois levy
my sister and I helped mum bake every Sunday afternoon and we always made lots of different sponge cakes -plain, chocolate, coconut, currant, lemon etc. but best of all the cake tins had designs at the bottom of each section so the cakes all had stars and hearts and other shapes on the bottom of each cake so no need for fancy paper cases.
Angela Cole
My great auntie’s recipe for victoria sponge with homemade jam. Yummy.
charleneflash
Classic Victoria Sponge
Gina M
My old neighbours scones. My brother and I used to keep her company and play in her garden and she’d always bake these delicious scones.
KARA CAMERON
Has to be cheesecake for me!!
Bron
Oh, coffee walnut! I used to love the icing (made with Camp coffee of course) and leave the walnut halves!
Maxine
my mum’s chocolate swiss rolls – me and my sister used to fight over licking the bowl!
June Etherington
Lemon cake with fresh picked strawberries from the garden. Mmmmm delicious.
sue hoey
fab. recipes look really scrummy.x
Susan Lloyd
My Nan’s Victoria sponge cake. X
Roger
Dundee cake
iain maciver
pastry apple pie , one of my grans greatest
Tracey Peach
The Lovely Birthdays cakes My Mum used to make us, a victoria sandwich sponge with coloured icing sugar with jelly tot’s & sprinkles added to decorate with candles
Daniela James
Looks lovely!
Irene Wright
Christmas cake – when I was first married (many years ago now) I wasn’t much of a baker. However, I was determined to master the art of making Christmas cakes. We lived on a farm at the time so the pigs & dogs got to eat my failures but eventually I managed to cook 12 really good Christmas cakes one year. Mum & the rest of the family were delighted with their Christmas presents.
Susie Wilkinson
Weetabix Cake, my Mum made them all the time!
Jean Bolsover
Rock cakes! My nan & I used to bake them, but mine never look or taste like they did then!