The great International Edible Book Festival that you never knew about (but do now)

A few loyal (or perhaps just overly polite) followers have recently enquired about the blog, or rather lack thereof. Alright, alright, alright, I’m getting slack.

 

I put my slackness down to the sheer humdrum of busy daily life – thesedays I tend to feel pretty proud of just accomplishing a school and pre-school drop-off in the morning, pick-up in the afternoon and a day’s work in between. Baking is a bit of a luxury if I’m honest.

The blog-silence is also down to how mundane my baking has become. Muffins anyone? Yawn.

And so just when I thought I’d lost my floury fizzle once and for all, I read about the International Edible Book Festival. Oh yes, edible books. I am so back.

The geeks among you can read about the festival’s history here: according to the event’s founders Judith A. Hoffberg and Beatrice Coron the International Edible Book Festival is held on 1 April every year for two reasons. Firstly, it is the birthday of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), famous for his witty meditation on food, physiologie du goût. And secondly, it’s April Fools’ Day – a time of pranks and playfulness. The event is now held in at least 23 countries. See, you learned a little something today.

 

Right, the rest of you can pick up again here. As a lover of books and a lover of cakes it was inevitable I’d link the two at some stage. So when I read about the festival I took that as my cue. Here are my efforts over the last few evenings.

First up we have ‘War and Peace’ by Leo Tolstoy:

 

When Neil walked into the kitchen to find me placing army men on a peace sign-shaped cake his words were "I’m not even going to ask". He may or may not have called me a "nutter" under his breath as he walked out; he denies this.

 

Next up, ‘Catch 22’ by Joseph Heller:

 

After sneaking a chocolate fish, Neil couldn’t help but get involved and suggested the next one, ‘Catch Me if you Can’ by Stan Redding and Frank Abagnale:

 

Then we have ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens:

 

This cake was quickly repurposed into a cake for Emily’s pre-school teachers (as a thank you for putting up with that ragamuffin). After much debate I opted to serve the cake without graters or figurines. Tough call.

 

The next two cakes require a disclaimer of sorts. I think Lorde is an inspiration, a huge talent, a striking girl. However I also think her name is just too hard to walk past for this particular exercise. So, Lorde, if you read this – a) I am flattered; and b) please don’t take this personally....

I present, with some trepidation, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J R R Tolkien:

 

And last, and quite possibly least, ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding:

 

If this lands me in hot icing then I’m playing the April Fools’ Day card.

TTFN x