The Art of Fine Baking

"I found that book in a second-hand bookshop in Oregon and I just liked the cover. It had all these beautiful old sweet moulds and stuff on it. I got it for $2 and I took it home and it was just this incredible book – an amazing resource. And I didn’t even notice when I bought it that James Beard had written the preface – a wonderful American, old-school chef who has a cooking school and sponsors an annual award. So this book has Beard’s seal of approval and it’s a great book. It’s old-fashioned cake recipes; not that old – 1960 – but obviously Peck’s influences are older than that. She’s got a great recipe, for example, for seed cake, and a totally different method for doing it. It’s not your grandma’s baking because she’s got this delicate touch. I mean, I’m not saying your average grandma’s not a great cook or that she doesn’t have delicious recipes, but she usually bakes them with a kind of heavy hand. Like even maybe some lard in there, lots of sugar, white frosting. But this is about fruit and fine pastry."