Book review – New Scottish Baking by Sue Lawrence

It’s no understatement that Britain can’t get enough of baking, as the massive success of programmes such as The Great British Bake Off has shown.

No stranger to cooking competitions herself, acclaimed cookery writer, Sue Lawrence, won Masterchef, back in 1991.

She has since written many books on cooking and baking, including Scottish Kitchen (2002), which is a well-thumbed book in my collection and which I can highly recommend, The Scottish Soup Bible (2017) and A Taste of Scotland’s Islands (2019). In her new book, she introduces essential baking tips before going on to share 150- recipes in themed sections – bread, enriched breads, scones, pancakes and oatcakes, brownies, traybakes and muffins, cakes, savoury tarts, quiches and pies, sweet pies and tarts, biscuits and cookies.

WHY I LOVE IT – The recipes are easy-to-follow and will appeal to bakers of all abilities, and a chapter of baking with kids will inspire a new generation in the kitchen and keep them amused during the long summer holidays. She’s a great storyteller too and each recipe has a description and information about the recipe’s provenance.

WHAT I’VE MADE – I spotted a couple of favourites from the Scottish Kitchen, and her moist, moreish – and boozy – Whisky Fruit Cake, is a firm favourite. I’ve made it as an alternative to a Christmas Cake but it’s also good for a picnic in the hills, accompanied with a slice of cheddar on the side.  Her Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies, again a revisited recipe, would keep the kids happy, as an alternative to the boozy cake. Versatile and delicious, these have a squidgy, fudgy, most middle with a thin layer of crispy crust on top.