Sherry Cake: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life had been on my reading list for ages. I downloaded it on to my kindle app last summer when it was on sale for only 99p, but have only recently gotten around to reading it.

It’s a bit of a mind fuck. Excuse my language, but it is. Everyone says you should never play the “what if” game. The “what if’s” can range from big to little choices we make every day.

For example: You walk the same way to work every day, but one day you choose to walk a different way. You later find out that there was a huge smash up on the road you cross at the time you should have been crossing it. Was it luck? Or did you already subconsciously know something?

Ursula Todd is our main character and we see her story played out as a lot of “what if’s.” There are several scenarios that we return over and over again and each time something is different sometimes it’s a little change and other times it’s life saving.

There is a lot of cake and other teatime treats mentioned in this book. There are two specific cakes that really stood out to me and this is the first and more simple of the two, but just as tasty. It’s a Sherry Cake, it’s served as a tea time treat by Mrs. Glover to Sylvia, Ursula’s mother, and her friends who visit from London to see the newest baby. Ursula and the dog are waiting in the garden in hopes to catch some crumbs.

The cake and the general drinking of sherry throughout the story really helped make you feel like you were in the past. It is these simple or minor things that take a story from being good to great.

It turns out Sherry Cake is pretty easy to make. It’s great when you find such an easy cake that gives such a big reward! It has a rich sherry flavor and it's super soft. It's just amazing! For a bit of nostalgia try it out yourself! 

Sherry Cake

125g butter, room temperature

125g golden caster sugar

225g self-rising flour

2 eggs

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200ml sweet sherry

icing sugar to dust

Heat the oven to 180C and line and grease a square or round 8 inch pan. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Then add half of the flour and mix until combined. Then add the bicarb, extract, sherry, and the rest of the flour until just combined. Pour into tin and bake for 35-45 minutes. Leave to cool completely before dusting with the icings sugar. Enjoy!

notes: Don't forget that this week is Bookies to Foodies over on A Flurry of Ponderings! Go have a look for more food stuff that has been inspired by other bloggers favorite books! A God in Ruins is a follow up to Life After Life that was recently published. It follows Ursula’s younger brother Teddy. Definitely will be reading that one! The recipe for the Sherry Cake was adjusted from this online source.