Graham Herterich, aka The Cupcake Bloke, has always been fascinated by taking classic Irish recipes and giving them a modern twist. By classic, he means proper bakes like soda bread, tarts, porter cake and brack all the way up to modern classics like jambons, cheesecakes and fifteens. In Bake: Traditional Irish Baking with Modern Twists, every recipe for a traditional bake is followed by a fresh new spin using the ingredients available in Ireland now, from advieh to zhug. It may not be an exact update of the recipe - it could be a modern interpretation of the flavour combination or a reinterpretation of the concept, like a classic coffee and walnut cake reimagined as a coffee and walnut pavlova with coffee poached pears. Food is a powerful link to our past, so writing the book also became a trip down the memory lane of Graham's childhood, teens and early twenties all the way through to the last few years, when he became more confident in his food, flavours, inspirations and textures and realised that baking is more than just an action - it's an invitation to the people you are going to share it with, a symbol of generosity and a gesture of love.
