Many of us can still recall a time when family cake tins contained a delicious variety of home-made biscuits, slices, fruit loaves and cakes baked each week by mothers, aunts and grandmothers. The contents of the tins brightened children's lunches, revived them after school, and refreshed friends and visitors at morning and afternoon teatime. Women also baked for suppers and teas at community events in response to the message 'Ladies, a plate' often printed on invitations.
Cream-filled sponges, ginger kisses, lamingtons, custard squares, chocolate éclairs, club sandwiches and sausage rolls were just some of the many specialties perfected by home bakers. In Ladies, A Plate, Alexa Johnston looks back to this gentler time and shares her favourite traditional New Zealand recipes.
An avid collector of community cookbooks, Alexa also writes about the history of some New Zealand baking classics, showing how our favourite recipes evolved over time. This gorgeous book contains over ninety recipes and will be treasured by every kitchen enthusiast, whether in your twenties or your nineties.
Accolades
2009 Winner Montana Book Awards - Lifestyle and Contemporary Culture
Author Biography
Alexa Johnston works as a freelance art curator and writer. Her definitive biography of the iconic New Zealand hero, Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life, was a finalist in the Montana Awards. An enthusiastic and accomplished baker from a young age, Alexa has an impressive collection of both cooking utensils and Kiwiana cookbooks.