About this item
A design-forward cookbook for sweet and savory baked goods from London's popular Violet Bakery that focuses on quality ingredients, seasonality, and taste (as opposed to science) as the keys to creating satisfying, delightful homemade pastries, tarts, sweets, and more. Violet is a jewel box of a cake shop and caf in Hackney, east London. The baking is done with simple ingredients including whole grain flours, less refined sugars, and the natural sweetness and nuanced hues of seasonal fruits. Everything is made in an open kitchen for people to see. Famed for its exquisite baked goods, Violet has become a destination. Owner Claire Ptak uses her Californian sensibility to create recipes that are both nourishing and indulgent. With a careful eye to taste and using the purest ingredients, she has created the most flavorful iterations of classic cakes, as well as new treats for modern palates. Over 100 recipes include nourishing breakfasts, midday snacks, desserts to share, fruit preserves, and stylish celebration cakes. This book is about making baking worth it: simple to cook and satisfying to eat.
About the Author
I am Claire Ptak, an American pastry chef living in London. I founded and run the Violet Bakery in East London and I am also a food stylist, prop stylist, and columnist for the Guardian newspaper. I have written 4 cookbooks and am constantly coming up with new ideas and recipes for my column and for my bakery. I also have a podcast called Violet Sessions where my friend the broadcaster Danielle Radojcin and I interview women who are doing enviable jobs about how they got there and what makes them tick. We also find out what their favourite cake is in the process. Formerly of Chez Panisse restaurant in California, I moved to London in 2005 and founded Violet Cakes as a market stall featuring delicious, American-style cakes and treats made with seasonal, natural, and organic ingredients. Then in 2010, I opened Violet, my acclaimed bakery and café in Hackney. Violet has been featured in British Vogue, American Vogue, Timeout, the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Savour and the Wall Street Journal. Fashion Blogger Susie Bubble visited Violet on Monki TV and Jamie Oliver calls me his "favourite cake maker in the whole world".
