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  • Published: 4 April 2023
  • ISBN: 9781529110319
  • Imprint: Square Peg
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

Love is a Pink Cake

Irresistible bakes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between




From the hit Instagram baker of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding cake comes a new cookbook full of delicious show-stopping cakes, biscuits and savoury treats that mix British tradition with Californian flavours.

Whether it's for ourselves, to show love for a child, friend or partner, or to celebrate a rite of passage, there is no denying the incredible effect that cakes can have. Claire Ptak has been running her West-London bakery, Violet Cakes, for nearly two decades, using her harvest-led philosophy to create incredibly flavourful and beautiful cakes, puddings and savoury treats.

This book is a collection of her formative baking stories, tips and current favourite recipes - what she is baking throughout the day, for any occasion. Some recipes draw inspiration from her hometown in Northern California and others are inspired by her life in London: British classics with a twist. Each recipe takes the very best local ingredients and flavours - from fresh-picked berries to peaches straight from the orchard - to create something special and new.

From Brown Sugar Victoria Sponge, Chocolate Violet Babka Buns, Tahini Halva Brownies, and English Angel Cakes that are perfect for a birthday party to Ras el Hanout Snickerdoodles, Coconut Pudding Cake and Black Tea and Poppy Seed Muffins, you'll find treats that are perfect for making every day delicious and memorable. You'll even find the recipe for Prince Harry and Megan Markle's famous Lemon and Elderflower Wedding Cake.

  • Published: 4 April 2023
  • ISBN: 9781529110319
  • Imprint: Square Peg
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

About the author

Claire Ptak

A California native, Claire Ptak worked as a pastry chef for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley before moving to London in 2005. She staged in restaurants including Moro and St. John before starting Violet, her stall on Broadway Market in east London. Claire opened the Violet Bakery in 2010. Jamie Oliver said Claire is ‘his favourite cake maker in the whole world’. Claire is also a food writer and stylist whose work includes Ottolenghi’s weekly Guardian column, Observer Food Monthly, Jamie Magazine, Kinfolk, and Vogue. She has published three cookbooks, The Home-Made Sweet Shop, The Whoopie Pie Book and Leon: Baking & Puddings.

Also by Claire Ptak

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Praise for Love is a Pink Cake

This is an absolutely enchanting book ... I could eat any of these recipes at any time of the day or night ... every page delights

Nigella Lawson, author of 'Cook, Eat, Repeat'

Claire is my favourite baker. I know so many of these recipes will become favourites baked again and again. A Violet recipe always works perfectly.

Anna Jones, author of 'One: Pot, Pan, Planet'

Claire's recipes are generous, intuitive, and beautiful. This is a celebration of life, and the bounty of the earth. You will feel as though an old friend is taking you by the hand and teaching you how to make the perfect fluffy blueberry muffin. Pull up a chair. Claire is the friend everybody needs in their life.

Laila Gohar

This ravishing trove of recipes and baker's lore is a testament to years of practice and endeavour ... a marvellous achievement

Jeremy Lee, author of 'Cooking'

A treasure trove of baking

Appetite Magazine

Claire Ptak's brilliant new cookbook mixes the best of her acclaimed British bakery with her roots in Northern California ... Her command of flavours and textures and the outright beauty of her creations has made her one of London's best-loved bakers, sought after by Hackney residents and royalty alike.

Killian Fox, Observer Food Monthly

There is a collection of sweet recipes for spring from Claire Ptak's delightful new book Love is Pink Cake, including a brown sugar sponge cake, vegan chocolate chip cookies, and treacle tart. Claire has also given us a very delicious recipe for a dessert of muscat wine and raspberries, which I have already bookmarked for my own Easter lunch.

Nigel Slater, Observer Food Monthly

I want to read, cook and devour the gorgeous food of brilliant Claire

Ruth Rogers, author of the 'River Cafe Cookbook'

Amazing recipes and heartfelt stories

Christopher Kane, Creative Director and Founder of Christopher Kane

Claire Ptak is the coolest girl I know. She makes baking sexy ... in a wolrd of saccharine this is the antidote

Fiona Leahy

In her new cookbook Love is a Pink Cake, Claire Ptak elevates baking to an art form... Beyond the recipes proper, though, it's the transferable wisdom that makes Love Is A Pink Cake invaluable. You will learn how to grow geraniums on your windowsill and bake with their leaves; discover that soaking poppy seeds in black tea brings out their flavour; and come to realise that it's worth deseeding Fragola grapes for their deep purple colour and incredible sweetness. And you will find that even the classics - yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting, treacle tart with whipped cream - can be improved upon by following Ptak's advice.

Hailey Maitland, British Vogue

BOOK OF THE MONTH ... Owner of East London's Violet Bakery, ex-Chez Panisse pastry chef and baker of cakes for royals, Claire Ptak has credentials that are as impressive as this beautiful book. It's divided to reflect the two sides of her life, with recipes such as black tea poppy seed muffins from her California birthplace, and apricot, chamocile and honey scones from her English home. The book is full of recipes that celebrate the seasons, and Claire introduces you to her favourite growers. There are plenty of tips to build confidence and improve technique too.

Mark Diacono, Delicious Magazine

Claire's desserts are more than just a conclusion to a great meal; they're bites of special memories for me... Her cakes have been at the center of some of our most cherished family moments.

Megan Markle, Duchess of Sussex
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