Tasting notes

From Bake Off to Shetland with James Morton

IN AUGUST 2012, James Morton appeared on our screens from a tent at Harptree Court in Somerset, rolling out his recipe for a ‘Simmer Dim’ sunset cake. The tent, of course, was the setting of The Great British Bake Off series three, and the cake Morton’s debut showstopper, concealing sponge layers the colour of a darkening sky inspired by the ‘midnight sun’ of Shetland’s short summer twilight.

Well beyond that first episode, the young Scotsman baked the flavours of his upbringing on ‘the edge of the world’ (as he puts it), following up with tattie scones, clootie dumplings and gingerbread barn, drawing on the skills he learned from his maternal grandmother.

Morton (who reached the final), went on to graduate as a doctor in Glasgow, write baking bestsellers and co-found a brewery. But in his latest book, Shetland (Quadrille, £25), he cooks closer to home. He created it with his father, Tom Morton, a writer who fell for the island, its seaweed-fed mutton and ‘steekit stumba’ (heavy mist) in the 1970s. Sharing the pages, they paint a rich picture of community, culture and customs, punctuated by dishes that have fed Shetlanders for generations, such as bannocks (the griddled buns to which an entire chapter is dedicated), and throw-in-your-roast-leftovers stovies.

Naturally, there are delicious bakes, including Gran’s Victoria sponge sandwiched with seedless raspberry jam, and an apple pie that seems fitting for when the nights draw in – ‘The winter darkness,’ father and son write, ‘which we see as essential to Shetland as the white nights of summer.’

From top Shetland, the inspiration for James Morton’s latest cookbook; his apple pie; Morton with father and co-author Tom