An Ode To Magic

“Well, come back and have tea with us," said Moon-Face. "Silky's got some Pop Biscuits -and I've made some Google Buns. I don't often make them- and I tell you they're a treat!”

- Enid Blyton, The Enchanted Wood

There are two things of utmost importance in my life. Food and books and books about food and sometimes food that looks like books (this will make sense later). There is never any scrimping on either of these two in our house. It is probably a terrible thing to say but we are book and food snobs. Yes, even the kids. This makes everyday life very difficult because nobody wants to eat "Baingan Ka Bharta" and so to make the medicine go down we have to christen it "Aubergine Baba Ghanoush" and serve it in style to our six and two year old children. And after most meals we each settle down in a nook with a book, including my younger one who can spend hours pretending to read. 

The day N read her first book was cause for celebration at home. I was now desperate for her to start reading the Enid Blytons which were such an important part of my childhood, but somewhere at the back of my mind I wasn't certain if she would like it. In the times of Geronimo Stilton and The Wimpy Kid, I thought that maybe stories about Brownies and Goblins and five kids chasing mysteries on an island may be too quaint for her.

I had heard that Enid Blytons had been sanitised and made politically correct, so I re-read some of them to see if they still retained their original flavour. I read somewhere that some books had been modernised for 21st century kids and included references to cell phones and dating but thankfully, when I read The Faraway Tree series my absolutely favourite as a child, I found that despite some cosmetic changes like Fanny and Dick becoming Frannie and Rick (let’s face it this makes it easier to read, try saying Fanny and Dick loved playing together without choking) the ethos of the books remains the same. I did a quiet little jig when my daughter finished the first book and asked to read the second one. 

I had planned to make a Faraway Tree cake for her seventh birthday but unfortunately somewhere between her sixth and seventh, little miss N read all three books, moved on to Roald Dahl and outgrew the Faraway Tree cake stage altogether.

I all but jumped out of my seat when N’s best friend’s mother asked if I would make a Faraway Tree cake for her daughter! Her birthday is still a couple of weeks away but work has started on some of the more detailed and hand painted aspects of the cake. These take time to dry especially in the humidity of the Indian monsoon. This brings us back to food that looks like books. For some time now I have been fascinated with cakes that look like books. I even tried making one but that didn't quite work out as I had planned. This is my second chance at recreating a book as a cake. So here is stage one, the book cover. It is completely edible and the same size as the real book. 

My edible version and the real book cover. It is drying so some of the details still need to be added

First, I cut out a piece of Gum Paste (fondant mixed with tylose powder) the size of the book. Then it was left to dry for two days to ensure that there was no moisture left in it. The third day was when all the hard work happened. I used Americolor food colours, Wilton paintbrushes, a palette and a few drops of lemon juice to thin the colour and then I did my best to just copy the cover.

But what's a good Faraway Tree cake without all it's enchanted woodland creatures? Here is a work in progress photograph of hand moulded gum paste figures of Moonface, Silky, The Angry Pixie and Saucepan Man's head (albeit gruesomely staked on a toothpick). If you have to google these names to remind yourself of who they are...well shame on you!  

Silky still needs her wings and Saucepan Man needs his body

The piece de resistance will of course be the tree itself which is the topic of another blog post entirely. 

Meanwhile tonight for dinner I will be serving "Poulet Potato Roundels" aka "Aloo aur chicken ka paratha" and "Red Lentil and Basmati Rice Paella" aka "Khichdi".