“This morning during his breakfast /a simple one – honey cake or two, slightly covered with jam/, all of a sudden he came up with a new song…”

One simply cannot omit Winnie the Pooh when talking about honey and cake delicacies, but there are other crossing points between culinary mastery and literature, it’s not only that famous story. We can think of Pippi Longstocking’s pancakes, of Matilda’s chocolate cake or the food which Carlson who lives on the roof used to steal. The list can be really long. Food can be met everywhere across literature, but it’s not that easy to create a recipe, following the story… Two Sofia girls who call themselves Trouble Bakers have named their unique idea The Sweet Side of Literature. Desislava Ivanova and Prolet Trifonova have turned fairytale recipes into true culinary temptations for connoisseurs. RB’s Yoan Kolev asked them on the birth of the idea and their motivation:

“We get motivated by the fact that we both like reading, cooking and eating. We decided to combine those things, thus contributing to the popularization of good books as a whole…”

How did you get into cooking?

“We both really love pastry. We have prepared for years now different stuff for friends, birthdays and parties. So, the idea of Trouble Bakers was gradually born. I think that everyone, involved in cooking has started this way – family, relatives, friends, “special” orders… That was how we began to experiment and got more and more enthusiastic.”

Who are your favorite characters and books?

“Hobbits appear to be our recent top characters – they love adventures and eating, just the way we do. We often say that Lord of the Rings contains so much food that can be cooked and transferred to real life…”

Elf bread is the true magic in the next epic novel of Tolkien. Prolet and Desi also tried to knead it. What is the secret?

“The secret is in the constant enriching of our recipe by everyone around. There were only dates at first, then someone offered some apple to be added. We don’t know the exact recipe – we don’t use such things. The mentioning of the food is enough and the rest comes with our imagination. For instance, we exchanged honey for Maple syrup and the taste is now even richer…”

Asked whether they have tried Alice’s pastry, Desi says they haven’t yet, because the duo tries to accentuate on more unpopular books, somehow underestimated by the fans. The two girls do believe that in the future they can work with children of all ages – for instance, by making up stories with food that will be prepared later on. Thus reading will not be something obligatory, but fun…

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

Photos: courtesy of troublebakers.eu