vegetable oil when you want other ingredients to
shine, like in the subtle Lemon buttermilk chiffon
cake (page 181). I am not a huge fan of the flavour
of unrefined coconut oil (use it if you love it), but I
use a refined, neutral-flavoured coconut oil to thin
melted chocolate for dipping if I can’t find Copha.

For frying oil see Fry-day! (page 224).

Salt
Salt is the indispensable sidekick to sweet. In
yeasted doughs it also tightens and reinforces
the gluten strands. I like a heftier amount with
chocolate, caramel, coconut or even lemon/lime,
and a little less with berries or tree fruits. Salts
vary in salinity; I like a fine sea salt over harsh
cooking or table salt. Make sure you taste the
salt you choose. Buy salt flakes for that last salty
sprankle on a cookie or tart top.

Spice
Buy small amounts frequently. Keep a check on
the dates of your sweet and savoury spices, and
apply the Marie Kondo™ test –‘Does this spice
spark joy?’ If the answer is no, bin it. For a pastry
power move, grind from whole spices in a cheapy
spice grinder or mortar and pestle. If infusing with
whole spices (especially the small ones, such as
cardamom, allspice or cloves), wrap the spices in
a little square of muslin or a fresh Chux (they are
food safe).

Sugar
Curate a collection of sucrose and deploy
each one for optimal texture and flavour. Build
meringues and make caramels with white refined
sugar for best results. Use brown sugars to
change textures from fluffy to fudgy. Caster
(superfine) sugar is your all-star all-rounder – it
dissolves easily in batters and caramelises
without crystallising. I’m really smitten with raw
caster (superfine) sugar because the flavour
has a mild, malty tone. If you can’t find it, whiz
raw sugar to a finer grain in the food processor.

Unrefined light and dark muscovados have
colossal molassesy/rummy notes and a deep
colour. Sub in light brown or dark brown sugar if
it’s hard to find. And here’s a hack: if your brown
sugar morphs into a hard block, place the block,
together with a slice of ultra-processed white
bread, in a zip-lock bag overnight. Miraculous
softening! I have recently become smitten with
coconut sugar – caramelly and complex as all
get-out. Use in meringue or the Kaya coconut jam
(page 255). Maple sugar is rare but findable, and
I love using it in place of or alongside the syrup for
extra maple intensity.

Sticky sweeteners
Maple, barley malt, honey and condensed milk
add their distinct flavour to custards and deepen
the colour of pretzel doughs.

Vanilla
Use the highest quality vanilla you can afford. Your
baking is worth it. I like to use beans or a paste
so the teeny seeds are visible. Top-shelf extracts,
without seeds, are also lovely. Use imitation
vanilla to stretch out some good paste. Don’t
discard any scraped-out beans – save them and
add them to roast with fruit or use in syrups. It all
helps to stretch out that luxury purchase. To store
$$ vanilla beans, keep them as airtight as possible
and in the fridge. Top tip: If they harden, place in
a tight-lidded plastic container, cover with two
pieces of super-wet paper towel and microwave
on High (100%) for 60 seconds. Set aside to
steam for an hour until cool and soft.

Verjuice
Made from unfermented green grapes, a bottle of
this can get you out of trouble when you need to
roast fruit, make a sabayon or brighten a cream or
cake soak. It’s especially helpful when the lemons
have gone mouldy or don’t yield enough juice.