This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Novel front covers don't get much better than an enormous squashy cake in various icings and colours with the words 'Mary' and 'Berry' on the front. So the novel by Claire Sandy called What Would Mary Berry Do? went straight to the top of my to-be-read pile. For a cake lover, baker and admirer of The Berry, this book promised so much.
It didn't disappoint. This novel is deliciously funny. Now, I'm a tough crowd when it comes to laughing at funny bits in books, but whilst reading this I just had to tweet the author to say Marie is quite possibly one of the wittiest characters I've ever read. I adored her.
And I adored her story. For Marie cannot bake. But she wants to be able to, just like her neighbour, Lucy. So she starts a quest to follow Mary Berry's recipe instructions down to the last detail. Her husband, Robert, is not adverse to putting on a pinny either, and both of them, him Paul Hollywood style, she Mary Berry style, spend a year discovering cakes, bread and baking along with more about themselves, their children and their neighbours.
Cake does that, you know. It is more than just the sum of ingredients thrown together. There is something about the process that brings out the best (or, maybe in some aspects the worst) in us. (I mean, remember bin-gate on Bake Off?)
There are many many cakes featuring in the novel. Including a white chocolate yule log. I'm not going to tell you where, spoilers and all that, you'll have to read it yourself to find out. But as soon as I read it, I had to make it.
Now, white chocolate is not for everyone, as my husband informed me after I'd taken all morning to make one, so make sure your intendeds like white chocolate before you make it.
I based mine on this Delicious Magazine recipe.