The theme
All of the recipes have been drawn from Mrs Beeton’s original Book of Household Management – a guide to running a household in Victorian Britain. The book was published in 1861 and, although she died in 1865, the book sold nearly 2 million copies by 1868 and it still remains in print today.
Mrs Beeton’s style, passing on information as clearly as possible, was hugely influential her day. Now her wise words of advice have been updated for the 21st century by chef, food writer, broadcaster and historian Gerard Baker. There is advice in the sweetshop book for working with sugar, which equipment to use and how to source different, and more obscure, ingredients.
What about the recipes?
Ah, the recipes – it’s like you can almost taste the sweets on your tongue when looking through the pages. The book is split into sections: boiled sweets and toffee, caramel and fudge, fruit, nuts, chocolate, and fondant, nougat and marshmallows. There is something to satiate everyone’s sweet tooth and the recipes vary in difficulty – from easy fruit and nut clusters to a more labour-intensive fresh raspberry marshmallow recipe.
The recipe test
Our lovely digital intern Sophie made the ever-so-simple salted caramels – a brilliant recipe to make and then give, in a pretty jar, as an edible gift.
Sophie said: “The recipe requires you to concentrate so make sure you have everything set out and ready to go before you begin.”
And her top tip: “Put the pan straight in to hot water after you’ve poured the caramel in to the tray to make washing-up easier!”
You can find the salted caramels recipe here.
