Laura Madeleine

Breakfast Martini Cake

It’s orange season! And I love it. My local greengrocer is selling HUGE navel oranges 4 for £1, blood oranges (my favourite) are back, and jars of marmalade are appearing in my vicinity with startling regularity. Sadly, I’m not a marmalade fan. Something about the combination of sugar and bitterness just doesn’t work for me,…

lauramadeleine

January 20, 2020

Recipes

cake, cocktail, Cointreau, marmalade, martini, orange, recipe, seasonal

At the Sauce Podcast

I was delighted to be a guest on episode 35 of At the Sauce; a brilliant food and drink themed podcast based here in Bristol. It was a joy to talk to Alex and Karis, especially knowing they’d recently interviewed one of my favourite food writers, Bee Wilson. Check out the episode below. You can…

lauramadeleine

January 6, 2020

Interviews, Writing

at the sauce, food, interview, memories, podcast, Writing

Short Story: The Unravelling of Walter Sinos

Getting 2020 off to a pretty flying start, I’m delighted to say that literary journal Short Fiction chose my short story, “The Unravelling of Walter Sinos” for their January Feature. “He was unremarkable, an elderly man in a greatcoat worn to skeleton threads, and a pair of leather shoes that creaked with newness. He wore…

lauramadeleine

January 4, 2020

Writing

david toop, iannis xenakis, journal, literary, music, musique concrete, publication, short fiction, short story, walter sinos

Blackberry, Bay and Hazelnut Galette

I’ve been obsessed with blackberry and bay ever since reading about it in Bee Wilson’s wonderful article about jam for the Financial Times. There, she wrote about London Borough of Jam in Hackey, where owner Lillie O’Brien makes a blackberry and bay jam that is “dark, rich and full of back-to-school autumnal promise”. It was…

lauramadeleine

December 11, 2019

Recipes

bay, blackberry, cake recipe, easy recipes, food, fruit galette, galette, jam, recipe, vegan

Talking Food With… Katy Moran

In my Talking Food series I’ll be featuring short interviews with authors, chefs, cooks, historians and food writers about their experiences of food, from memories to favourite recipes. Today, I’d like to introduce as my guest author Katy Moran. Katy is a former book editor who now lives in Shropshire with her husband and three…

lauramadeleine

November 15, 2019

Interviews, Writing

author, Cornwall, food in fiction, georgette heyer, interview, katy moran, Regency, Research, talking food, the wolves of willoughby chase, wicked by design

Halwa Carrot Cake

I came up with this cake a few years ago for a friend from Pakistan who said he was missing carrot halwa (gajar ka halwa), and who also loves carrot cake. So, for his birthday I decided to try and combine the two… After a few test runs, and a lot of texting my friend…

lauramadeleine

November 6, 2019

Recipes

baking, birthday cake, cake recipe, carrot cake, gajar ka halwa, halwa, recipe

Talking Food With… Lucy Hounsom

In my Talking Food series I’ll be featuring short interviews with authors, chefs, cooks, historians and food writers about their experiences of food, from memories to favourite recipes. Today, I’d like to introduce as my guest author Lucy Hounsom. Lucy is the author of The Worldmaker Trilogy. Her first book, STARBORN, was shortlisted in the…

lauramadeleine

October 23, 2019

Interviews, Writing

author, fantasy, food, food in fiction, food writing, interview, Lucy Hounsom, Q&A, Sistersong, Starborn, talking food

Blackberry Madeleines

Autumn is now officially here; the tomatoes have turned orange on brittle stems, the courgettes are finally ending their reign, and now is the time for golden quinces, autumn apples, and a few last, late blackberries clinging to brambles. It was when we were on our way home, the sun sinking low and golden, that…

lauramadeleine

October 9, 2019

Recipes, Writing

autumn, baking, blackberries, blackberry, cake recipe, fall, madeleines, Proust, recipe, seasonal, taste

Fig Cake with Fig Leaf Cream

In Tangier, at the very edge of the casbah overlooking the strait, is a house called Dar Zero. An old property, with white, crenelated walls, this is where Samuel Pepys lived in 1683, during the English occupation of Tangier (1661-1684), when he was employed as a secretary to George Legge, Lord Dartmouth, who had been…

lauramadeleine

September 30, 2019

Recipes, Writing

author, baking, books, cake, cake recipe, fig, fig leaf, food, historical fiction, historical food, history, recipe, seasonal, tangier

A 1978 Playlist

After several requests, I’m delighted to share the 1978 playlist we put together for the launch party of An Echo of Scandal last week. I’m a firm believer in immersive research, and music is a huge part of that for me. My job is made all the easier when the era in question is filled…

lauramadeleine

September 24, 2019

Research, Travel, Writing

1970s, 1978, An Echo of Scandal, laura madeleine, music, playlist, Research