04-07-2025
Lonely in London? Don't believe it: just ask my baking club
I 'm looking at a blackberry focaccia, Chelsea buns and a tahini Basque burnt cheesecake. Which will I go for first? I need to pace myself, because there's also the sweet potato bebinca, a Goan dessert with whipped Chantilly cream, that I've got my eye on.
Where am I? One of the artisanal, Instagram-friendly bakeries that are springing up all over the capital? Far from it: I'm in the back room of a self-described boozer in Camberwell, south London, for the latest Band of Bakers meeting.
Going strong since 2012, Band of Bakers has become one of the many small but perfectly-formed groups that keeps Londoners attached to their local communities, even in a city with a reputation for being unfriendly, anonymous and cold. I joined in 2021, desperate for some in-person socialising after the restrictions of the pandemic. Having seen other friends move out of the capital or lose their free time to the demands of parenting, I hoped to impress with a whisky-glazed gingerbread. I immediately clicked with fellow bakers who were equally sick of solo banana bread-making and bonded with others who had seen sourdough starters go south.
