I don’t think I’ve ever read a cookbook written by a novelist; I’ve read novels that have recipes in them, but that’s a different thing. I’ve only read 1 novel by Marian Keyes; I was visiting my mom who lived in Ireland at the time, I was bored, and I pulled a book off one of here shelves. It was Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes, and I remember it being basically a group of friends navigating modern life with a strong dose of romance. Fast-forward something like 20 years, and Mom gave me her copy of Saved By Cake: Over 80 Ways to Bake Yourself Happy by none other than Marian Keyes. This is a dessert baking book, but also partially memoir, as it stems from Keyes’ struggles with mental health (CW: discussion of suicidal thoughts) and her discovery of baking as a way to help herself work at easing her depression.
The recipes are both standard (cola cake for example) but also a little new. When presenting the method for making the icing: “sieve in the icing sugar and whisk like mad. Give this everything you’ve got because even when you think all the icing sugar is incorporated, I can assure you it isn’t. Stubborn little cysts of it will hold out for an astonishingly long time. As the renegade lumps are reluctantly flushed out, the icing will thicken. Eventually you can stop.” The cake recipe itself also involves mini-marshmallows and I’ve not seen this type of cake done that way; turns out to be super rich and also a very good way to get rid of the remaining bottle or two of Coke Spice I didn’t especially want to drink. Perfect Valentines/Galentines cake as it turns out to be a raspberry chocolate cake. I think I might have to try this again with that new Coke Orange Cream (chocolate orange is one of my favorite things). The stollen recipe also looks fairly manageable, and I might be trying that next.
Most of the recipes are generally doable for most people (permission is granted to buy your own filo), although sometimes they do get fancier, such as an entire chapter on meringues and macaroons, although the macaroon section starts with “You can do this; you CAN make MACAROONS. However, they will not be all lovely and neat, the way they are at Laduree. Can you make your peace with that? If not, stop right here, you’ll only wreck your head. But if you can accept that your macaroons may be bockety and funny-shaped and still worthy of existence, then proceed.” There’s also a banana cream pie (how have I never heard of that when I live in the land of banana pudding?), and chocolate squash tray bake (vaguely healthy fudge brownies/cake anyone?).
Even though the book sounds like a beginner’s guide in a lot of ways, the narrative in the instructions might be a little confusing to a baking novice (which I’m not), but generally, I think I might have found my next self-soothing projects for the next while.