Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 37 on 20/03/2008.

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Cakes and bakes

Sue Lawrence considers some classic Scottish treats.

There is an old-fashioned little tea shop at the corner next to my bank, every time I go there I have to stand still and sniff the air. The smell coming through the door is so reminiscent of my childhood, it is sweet, sugary and buttery; it is shortbread being baked for tea. I can almost taste the crunchy sugar on top and the buttery sweetness underneath. There is no smell quite like it. In my opinion, you can forget the aroma of roasting coffee if you want to sell your house; do some home-baking instead.

I have lived and breathed baking since I can remember. The homely smells of freshly baked Scotch pancakes, treacle scones, jam and coconut tarts and of course shortbread were in the air as I walked through the door after school.

The cake tins were filled with sultana cake and ginger cake for visitors popping in. It was just part of growing up in Scotland. It was no coincidence the famous Scots writer F.

Marian McNeil wrote in 1929: “If every Frenchwoman is born with a wooden spoon in her hand, every Scotswoman is born with a rolling pin under her arm.” Baking is in our blood.

And although there are still – thankfully – many fine home bakers in Scotland, there are also many excellent commercial producers of cakes and shortbread, so good it can almost be passed off as home-made.

One such is Dean’s the shortbread maker.

The town of Huntly in rural Aberdeenshire is where, back in 1975, Helen Dean decided to bake shortbread to raise money for the Huntly pipe band, but it wa.....

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By Sue Lawrence

Section : Scotland Food

Page number : 50