When was the last time you talked about Angel Cake?

Here’s my answer to that question – quite a lot, quite recently. About a week ago I received the first print copy of The Saturday Girls ) (out next Thursday!! pre-order it now). How lovely it looks!  And there, tucked into the back of the book is a recipe for Angel Cake – because there is a delicious, moist, soft Angel birthday cake actually in the book. And this is a real life Angel Cake – not a cake mix! When I knew there would be a cake in the back of the book I decided to do a little research to see what it actually tastes like. I’m not sure it’s meant to have icing, but it tasted very good. I did a bit of a wide ranging search in fact and I have to say that Tesco’s own brand came out rather well.

Then on Wednesday at a social event, with much, much white wine and a sprinkling of canapes, I found myself in conversation with a French scientist who loves to bake. ‘What is your favourite cake?’ I asked, quite innocently. And she said, ‘Angel cake,’ just like that and proceeded to give me yet another recipe. We then had a discussion about what to do with egg yolks and how much mayonnaise can one household actually eat. But that need not trouble us here.

Because on Thursday, the very next day, a story was published in the Guardian about the reissue of the Suffrage Cook Book (read a review here). A book to warm the hearts and stomachs of those fighting the good fight to obtain votes for women. And the recipe they printed to go along with the story was … Suffrage Angel Cake!

I think what we can draw from this is that it’s all pointing one way. It all started with The Saturday Girls. And that’s where it’s heading. Published by Bonnier Zaffre, it comes out on 23 August 2018 – next Thursday. Pre-order it now!

And once it is in your hands – the book really is beautifully produced – you can try out the recipe. And when you have produced a delicious cake, then  you can sit down with a generous slice, a cup of tea and a good book (The Saturday Girls obviously) and relive the heady days of the Sixties, when Saturday night was the night for dancing and the Corn Exchange was the place to be, and have a really, really good time.