Find Comfort in the Classics

We stay close to the classics we grew up on – all the good things – here at Fiona Cairns. Only the freshest butter is stirred into the thousands of heart-shaped shortbreads we bake every week. They are based on a simple recipe from Fiona’s grandmother and each is cut by hand in our bakery, just as Fiona still does at her kitchen table for friends. You’ll find our recipe here.

We don’t take shortcuts with our sugar flower decorations either: they are handmade too! If you want to try making tiny flowers at home, there are inexpensive kits online. Get kids involved in rolling out fondant and pressing out the little blooms; they’ll love it! Be warned though you need lots of icing sugar, both on the cutters and the fondant, to stop it getting too sticky. It will keep your smallest busy (if messy) after big sisters and brothers go back to school. 

Speaking of the new term, we need a new word in the English language to describe how hungry schoolchildren are after a day of lessons. To be prepared for these famished kids, get baking, so they can have a bite as soon as they get in the door, or buy a pack of our beautiful and delicious fairy cakes or cupcakes. 

Some things never change: post-school peckishness and sponge cake among them. But did you know a British invention elevated a 15th-century cake recipe into Victoria sponge? Sponge cakes spread across Europe from Renaissance Italy, but it wasn’t until Alfred Bird invented baking powder in 1843 that the heavier historical cake became the light, airy creation we love today. Who could tire of the classics when they are this good?  

And as the month draws to a close, it’s time to wave farewell to traditional summer favourites and embrace autumn. And what could be better for that than blackberrying at your favourite spot? You could hold on to the last of summer and simmer your foraged delights into jam for a Victoria sponge.