HarperCollins orders new food memoir celebrating Britain’s ‘love affair with cake’

HarperCollins has ordered a new food memoir celebrating Britain’s “love affair with cake” by Telegraph publishing editor Andrew Baker. 

HarperNonFiction publishing director Katya Shipster acquired world all language rights to Cake: A Slice of British Life from Becky Ritchie at AM Heath Literary Agency. It will publish under the Mudlark imprint in hardback, audio and e-book formats on 28th September. 

Baker said: “I have had a lot of fun researching this book, travelling all over the country to investigate the stories behind our favourite cakes. I have found that cake is a wonderful catalyst for starting conversations and evoking precious memories. It certainly has that effect on me, and I have relished the chance to explore my own family stories and our complex and often joyous national relationship with cake. The team at Mudlark and HarperNonFiction has been terrific, and together we have produced what I hope everyone will agree is an appetising and satisfying slice of British life. I can’t wait to serve it up to the public.”

Shipster added: “Cakes hold such a special, oddly central place throughout our lives, and in our hearts – nothing else is quite able to sum up and celebrate those big life moments in quite the same way. There’s a reason why the ‘definitive’ way to make a Victoria sponge is such a hot topic, and so hotly argued; as a nation, we really do care a lot about cake! But why is that? This book is the most glorious gastronomic gallivant, stuffed full of fascinating soul-nourishing titbits, and Andrew is the perfect author to answer the important questions (nominative determinism aside).”