It’s the Great Royal Bake Orf
Queen t akes on Mary Berry with recipe in Palace teas cookbook
THINK baking royalty and one name inevitably springs to mind: Mary Berry.
But it seems the former Great British Bake Off star has a surprising rival: Her Majesty the Queen.
For the Monarch is an enthusiastic home baker, whose favourite recipes are about to be published in a new cookbook.
Top of the list is one for drop scones, which she cooked for American President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he visited Balmoral in 1959. ‘Ike’ and his wife Mamie enjoyed the treats so much that he asked her for the recipe, and she obliged in a personal letter.
Next month that same recipe will have pride of place in the new book, Royal Teas, alongside 39 other recipes for the most popular foods served at Buckingham Palace garden parties.
In her letter to President Eisenhower, the Queen gave a recipe for enough drop scones, also known as Scotch pancakes, to feed 16 people. And she added a couple of personal tips, suggesting ‘I think the mixture needs a great deal of beating while making and shouldn’t stand about too long before cooking’, and: ‘I have also tried using golden syrup or treacle instead of only sugar and that can be very good, too.’
The Queen, aged 33 at the time and expecting her third child, Prince Andrew, made the scones on a griddle at Balmoral as a teatime snack.
But Jacky Colliss Harvey from the Royal Collection Trust, which is publishing the new book, said: ‘We believe President Eisenhower liked them because they were close to American breakfast pancakes and they made him feel at home.’
She added: ‘ The idea for the book started with the garden parties and afternoon tea. We had a long list of recipes but had to weed them out if they were too complicated or ingredients too expensive or difficult to source.
‘Tea is the quintessential British meal. We still follow the tradition that savoury precedes sweet, and that wholesome is to be consumed before the indulgent, but the perfect tea table has to include a combination of both.’
The recipes in the book were selected by Royal chef Mark Flanagan and Royal pastry chef Kathryn Cuthbertson from the dishes regularly offered by the Queen at private functions and to the 30,000 annual guests at Buckingham Palace garden parties.
They include recipes for carrot cake and another garden- party favourite, Victoria sponge, named after the Queen’s great- greatgrandmother.
Mr Flanagan, who has worked for the Queen for 15 years, has previously said: ‘At any large event we are always conscious of trying to make sure we uphold people’s expectations when they come to Buckingham Palace. For a lot of people, i t will be a once- i n- alifetime opportunity.
‘Certainly from the kitchen side of things we try to encourage everybody to make sure nobody goes away saying, “Wasn’t it amazing… but the food wasn’t up to much” – that’s not what we’d like.’
Savoury recipes in the book, whose proceeds will help conserve artworks owned by the Queen, include brioche crayfish cocktail buns, egg mayonnaise on toast points, wild mushroom vol-au-vents, quail scotch eggs and miniature game pies.
Meanwhile, sweet treats include Yorkshire rhubarb creme brulee tartlets, cherry madeleines and the poshest Jammie Dodgers most peo-
‘At the Palace, food must match expectations’
ple will come across: sables aux confiture. More exclusive recipes from Royal Teas will be published in The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine on May 7 – the day before the book is published, priced £14.95, or £12.95 via the Royal Collection Trust.