I watched last year’s Celebrity Masterchef and I grew very fond of Sophie Thompson. She really flourished throughout the show and went on to create some amazing dishes, she was a very deserving winner. So I was delighted when I got the opportunity to review her new book My Family Kitchen.

This is a fantastic book that contains recipes from four generations. Each recipe comes with an interesting anecdote or a background as to why it is important to Sophie and her family. All of the recipes contained in this book are very approachable and communal eating and sharing with others is very much the focus of this collection.

I’ve made a number of recipes from My Family Kitchen, it’s great for mid-week meal ideas as well as ideas for entertaining and impressing others.

The first recipe I tried was for Leckerli, I’d never heard of these biscuits before. They’re a biscuit from Switzerland, made up of ground almonds, mixed peel and spices. I’m not sure if these are an acquired taste, but I found the taste of cloves to be a bit too strong, I’d definitely make these again, but only with a pinch of ground cloves instead of a teaspoon.

The second recipe I tried was an amazing Toffee Apple Cake. This is the perfect cake for Sunday tea time, or a mid-afternoon break with a mug of tea. Its sweet, soft from the mix of ground almonds and delicious with pouring cream. I was really impressed with this recipe. It’s easy to follow and like most of the recipes in My Family Kitchen it doesn’t require any special ingredients or equipment.

If you’d like to give this Toffee Apple Cake a try yourself, Faber and Faber have kindly allowed me to share the recipe here:

Toffee Apple Cake Sophie Thompson A rich cake full of dessert apples and toffee sauce. Perfect with some cream and a cup of tea. 5 from 1 vote Print Recipe Pin Recipe Prep Time 30 mins Cook Time 1 hr 15 mins Total Time 1 hr 45 mins Course Cake Cuisine English Servings 8 -10 Ingredients For the cake:

175 g Unsalted Butter softened

150 g Granulated Sugar

4 Large Eggs lightly beaten

200 g Self-Raising Flour sifted

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

150 g Ground Almonds

1 Tsp Baking Powder

350 g Apples peeled and thinly sliced

For the toffee sauce:

100 g Unsalted Butter diced

100 g Light Muscovado Sugar

150 ml Double Cream Instructions Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3. Grease and line a 20cm deep loose-bottomed cake tin.

Make your toffee sauce by melting the butter, sugar and double cream in a pan over a low heat until bubbling and golden. This takes about 5 minutes, set aside to cool.

For the cake, put the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream together until pale. Gradually add the beaten eggs, adding a large spoonful of flour after each egg to stop the mixture curdling.

Once the eggs are combined, beat in the vanilla extract, then add the remaining flour, ground almonds and the baking powder. Fold in well.

Pour half the mixture into your prepared baking tin and spread in an even layer. Arrange half the apples in a swirled pattern, then spoon over half the toffee sauce. Repeat with the remaining cake mixture, apples and toffee sauce.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, test with a skewer for doneness. The cake will rise during baking, so if you have used quite a shallow tin you may want to place a tray underneath to catch an escaped toffee sauce.

When done, remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 45 minutes before turning it out of the tin.

Serve with pouring cream or warm it slightly and serve with ice-cream.

This is a great cookery book, absolutely packed full of recipes. I’ve found so many traditional dishes that you just don’t come across any more from beef olives to meat loaf, as well as more exotic curry dishes and recipes using game.

It’s a really versatile book that truly demonstrates Sophie Thompson’s love of good food. If you like the look of My Family Kitchen, why not enter my giveaway. I’ve got 3 copies up for grabs.

My Family Kitchen Giveaway



My Family Kitchen Giveaway

– Three winners will receive the following: A copy of My Family Kitchen by Sophie Thompson.

– The giveaway is open to UK residents over the age of 18 only.

– The giveaway ends on the 28th of September at 11:59:59 AM.

– Entries using an automated process or software to create bulk entries will be disqualified.

– The winners will be randomly selected, announced in the Gleam giveaway box and contacted via their provided e-mail address shortly afterwards. Please claim your prize within 4 days of being notified.

I was given a copy of My Family Kitchen by Sophie Thompson for free to review. All opinions are my own.

I’ve added this to Fabulous Foodie Fridays.