Cakes River Cottage Handbook No.8

Baking is the most comforting and entirely satisfying of the culinary arts - making a cake is not only a sumptuous process in its own right but the end result is entirely delicious. Pam Corbin offers the voice of experience, setting out basic techniques and recipes that will guarantee success. This is traditional baking at its very best, with over 75 adaptable recipes including Macaroons, Meringues, Fairy Cakes (and their counterpart - Gnome Cakes), the classic Victoria Sandwich, Yorkshire Rhubarb Gingerbread, Walnut Cake, Blueberry Yoghurt Cake, Orange Cake with Earl Grey Icing, and the glorious Battenberg Cake with its distinctive pink and yellow checks. As a finishing touch, there is a section devoted to sweet embellishments like feather icing, crystallised violets and chocolate leaves. Say goodbye to sinking sponges and brittle brownies with this comprehensive guide to the heavenly world of cake making, introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittinstall.

Pam Corbin has been making preserves for as long as she can remember, and for more than twenty years her passion has been her business. Pam and her husband Hugh moved to Devon where they bought an old pig farm and converted it into a small jam factory. Always using good, wholesome, seasonal ingredients, their products, sold under the Thursday Cottage label, soon became firm favourites with jam-lovers the world over.

Pam has now hung up her professional wooden spoon but continues to 'jam' at home. She also works closely with the River Cottage team, making seasonal goodies using fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers from her own garden, from Park Farm, and from the fields and hedgerows.