Words Billie Brand
Photography Ellen Christina Hancock
Production Harry Cave

Does Claire Ptak make the best cakes in London? Quite possibly. The Californian pastry chef, best known for running the beloved east London bakery, Violet (and, of course, for making Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding cake), has been serving seasonal sweet treats to the Hackney community for more than 17 years. After cutting her teeth at Alice Waters’ farm-to-table restaurant, Chez Panisse, she moved to the UK and began selling homemade goods from a modest stall on Broadway Market. Her cupcakes topped with icing made from locally sourced fruit went down a treat and, in 2010, she opened the doors to her bricks-and-mortar business on Wilton Way. Today, with its cream-painted façade and alfresco seating, Violet is the definition of a neighbourhood treasure. As for Claire? She’s as busy as ever, having just published her fifth cookbook, Love is a Pink Cake.

When we meet Claire at home in Hackney, she has a month until the book’s launch. “I’m looking forward to the parties,” she smiles, melting 250g of Pump Street chocolate as she demonstrates how to make one of her newly published recipes: tahini brownies (you can discover it for yourself below). As she explains, the name Love is a Pink Cake is a nod to an illustration of a dainty cherub by one of her favourite artists, Andy Warhol, which features on the book’s first page. “I wrote down the title of it 20 years ago,” she says. “It’s funny how things come full circle.” As Claire points out, before he did pop art, Andrew, as the artist was formerly known, would illustrate recipe books. She flicks through a well-thumbed copy of Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Cookbook, pointing out his fun foodie drawings. “It all made sense,” she says. “And the Andy Warhol Foundation gave us its blessing, which is lovely.”

Even though there are 85 recipes in her book, Claire’s quick to list a few of her most cherished. “I love the tequila pumpkin pie,” she says. “Autumn is my favourite time of year – and I love to bake with alcohol.” Claire pulls a jar of homemade vanilla extract she’s using for the brownies, in which she’s soaked pods in Absolut Vodka. “It’s great for cocktails too,” she says. Another recipe she’s particularly fond of is for ‘Franny’s waffles’, which she developed with her young daughter, Frances, during lockdown. “There’s something about breakfast time with kids,” she says. “If you get it right, you feel it’s going to be a good day. That recipe was a win for me as a parent.”

And how could we not ask about the recipe for a particular lemon and elderflower sponge – the one Claire made for the royal wedding? “I got a text from my manager saying: ‘There’s an email you need to look at,’” Claire recalls. “It was an invitation to Kensington Palace – and a request to bring some samples.” How would she summarise the experience? “It was amazing. I wasn’t pushed in any direction – Harry and Meghan just wanted to see my ideas,” Claire replies. “And for the wedding itself, we made all the cakes in Buckingham Palace…” She describes the kitchens as “very industrial with huge ovens”, a contrast to those of Windsor Castle, which are more historical, “preserved and filled with copper pots and things they’ve had for generations”. “We went through the vault of gilt and porcelain to find heirloom platters for the wedding cake,” she says. “It was magical.” Claire was later asked to make the first birthday cake for Princess Lilibet too.

There would surely be demand – the queues outside Violet on the weekend speak for themselves – but Claire hasn’t once been tempted to open a second outpost. She shakes her head emphatically at the idea. “The community in Hackney is so special and interesting,” she says. One local she’s formed a particularly fruitful friendship with is fashion designer Christopher Kane. Claire collaborated with his brand More Joy on a line of oversized purple tote bags that spell out ‘More Cake’, which have been spotted under the arms of east London locals. “We’re going to release a pink one to tie in with the book,” she teases. “It’s going to be a Mexican pink. Luis Barragán vibes.”

As we wait for her fresh-out-the-oven brownies to cool, Claire sits down to talk about her love for niche kitchen tools and why staying in for dinner is the new going out.

“This kitchen is designed for cooking. I’ve lived here for four years and have barely touched the design. It’s pretty simple – there’s not even enough storage. I have a container full of stuff on my terrace and a storage unit up the road. But it’s big enough to make anything I want in. What makes it special is that it’s full of nice things. There are lots of beautiful and amazing tools that I’ve collected over the years – most of which I’ve swapped with people for cake.

“My most cherished kitchen tools are made for really specific purposes. I’m obsessed with my mozzarella bowl from Puglia. It has holes in and a dish underneath so you can drain the liquid from the cheese. In summer, I’ll order the best mozzarella balls from The Ham & Cheese Co and serve it with salad. I also love my Japanese suribachi pestle and mortar, which Alice Waters gave me about 10 years ago. The thing I use more than anything, however, is my ice-cream scoop, which I portion cookie dough with. I keep balls of the mixture in the freezer, which I can then pop in the oven at any time.

“The cookbooks I refer to the most are  Everything Tastes Better Outdoors by Claudia Roden, a wonderful friend and amazing chef. It has the best title ever. I read The River Cafe Cookbook by Ruth Rogers in the 1990s and I couldn’t believe how candid the photos were. I thought it was so modern and cool. I also love Sundaes, Ices and Ice Cream Sodas by CH Boeglin, which is so sweet. My ex-husband bought it for me from Broadway Market. I think he paid £2 for it – and then we spotted it at a beautiful bookshop in America, where it was being sold for $200. And, of course, Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Cookbook.

“My approach to home cooking is super seasonal and simple. Seasonal cooking is just the way we do things in California. It’s the focus of Alice’s restaurant and it’s how I was taught at Chez Panisse. When I first came here, it wasn’t happening much but there’s been a real shift over the past 17 years. People come to work for me specifically because of our seasonal approach to baking, which makes me so happy. I go to the farmers’ market – either in Stoke Newington or Chapel Market, which have great organic growers – most weekends to get ingredients. I’m a ‘salad everyday’ person. I make my dressing using my suribachi, which I’ll drizzle over leaves and fruit, such as blood orange slices or pears. Sometimes, I’ll make one thing that I can turn into a few different meals, such as a roast chicken, for example; then I’ll use the carcass to make a broth for a risotto.

“At the weekend I like to get together with friends, which I do for lunch every Sunday. I usually do something here or I’ll take dessert to someone else’s. If I’m doing a roast, there are always Yorkshires – there’s a recipe in my book for popovers, which are the Californian version. I love cooking anything with batter. Potatoes are always a crowd-pleaser. And I like to cook steak too, so I’ll often get a big T-bone from the Ginger Pig by Victoria Park, which I’ll slice up for sharing. It’s terrible to say, but I don’t eat at restaurants that often anymore. I prefer homecooked meals.

“My favourite memories here include making things with Frances. My grandmother and mum taught me how to bake when I was younger, so cooking with my daughter has always been really special, and I especially loved it during lockdown. She always jokes about this one time when we made a horrible cake together. It was so bad! But we’ve laughed about it a lot. My Sunday dinners here are also some of my happiest memories here. I love breaking bread with friends. I always lay the table with a cloth and ironed napkins and do the whole thing properly. It makes people feel welcome. I want to encourage people to eat the same thing around a table together and really experience a mealtime.”

Claire’s recipe for tahini halva brownies

“These have become a staple at Violet. Every once in a while we give them a little break from the counter to make space for other recipes, but it never lasts long because people ask for them every day. Halva can be found in many Turkish and Middle Eastern shops or online. Baker’s tip: remember that both brownies and cookies continue to bake while they cool down. It is always a good idea to err on the side of caution and take them out the oven just before you think they’re done to avoid overbaking and to keep that lovely gooey texture.”

Makes 12 brownies

250g unsalted butter
250g dark chocolate
4 eggs
250g golden caster sugar
2tsp vanilla extract
140g fine spelt flour
50g cocoa powder
150g tahini paste
225g vanilla or marbled chocolate halva, broken into 2cm pieces
3⁄4tsp sea salt flakes

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Butter and line a 20×30cm cake tin with baking paper.

Put the butter and chocolate into a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally until the mixture has melted completely. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until combined, taking care not to over whisk; the idea here is not to add too much air. Stir the eggs into the cooled chocolate mixture with the vanilla extract, then sift in the flour and cocoa powder and fold all together. Pour into your prepared tin.

Drizzle the tahini over the top of the brownie mixture. Dot with halva pieces, then gently run a knife across the surface to marble it. Sprinkle with sea salt, then bake for 25 minutes. The brownies should be just set but still wobbly. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into rectangles.