THE BAKER'S DOZEN - INTERVIEW WITH PRESTO
As Christmas is a-baking at Penhaligon's, we sit down with Lauren Duncan, founder of Presto, to talk about her fragrance-inspired bakes for The Baker's Dozen series.
With the opening of Penhaligon's Bakery (that's the festive gift shop, don't you know), we've turned our noses and stomachs towards London's impressive pool of baking talent to create recipes inspired by our very own scents. One of these is Presto, a London-based creative studio that specialises in design-led cake and chocolates. We sat down with founder Lauren Duncan to discuss her delicious creations and her baking journey so far.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and Presto.
Before moving into food, I was a womenswear designer, most recently for Uniqlo in Tokyo. When I moved back to London in 2016, I realised I might be better suited to working in something more hands on so I gave myself six months to try out baking. I had no formal training to realise any of the ideas I had at the time, so I ended up working in restaurants and bakeries around London to build up a base of techniques. With Presto, I wanted to create a brand under which I could design very freely. It’s a completely personal project, led entirely by my own taste and design sensibilities.
What inspired you to become a baker?
I’ve always enjoyed making and specifically working with my hands to create things. In truth, I like to be in control of the design process from start to finish without having to outsource anything. Designing clothes, you’d receive a sample from the factory, adjust it, send it back and then receive a revised sample a few weeks later. The system began to feel tedious to me, losing any kind of momentum within the design process. With baking, I’m able to refine an idea quickly in a very immediate way, which feels like a more exciting way to work.
Talk us through an average day at Presto
I start early around 07:00 – maybe I’ve been conditioned by years of early starts, but I find I do my best work in the mornings. If I’m sketching or designing for a client that day, I’ll always do that first when it’s quiet and before I even look at an email. One of the things I like most about my work is that every day is completely different, depending on what I have on that week. Most likely I’ll also be out delivering something around London at some point during the day, whether it be a cake or samples for clients.
Which was your favourite Penhaligon's bake to work on?
I make a Christmas pudding every year, so to come up with a new take on one, inspired by The Dandy, was exciting. I knew I wanted to preserve the texture and surface of a traditional pudding while reimagining the shape and adding some more playful decorations. In my work, I often mix more classic elements, like the silver pearls, with more modern shapes and details to create some friction. The fragrance also translated easily into the flavours of the bake, and I sourced an amazing smoky lapsing earl grey tea to use in the glaze which tied in well with the woody notes.
Presto has a distinctive cake and decorating design, which we love. What is the creative process like for this?
I tend not to look to cakes or food in general for inspiration. I’m more drawn to things like jewellery, antique tableware, and textiles. I’ll sketch shapes and forms very loosely in pencil and then move on to practical decoration tests, most of which don’t work out but instead lead me on to other ideas. It’s a lot of trial and error until I land on something I’m excited by. Generally, my inspiration and research process has stayed much the same as when I was designing clothes, only the medium I’m working with has changed.
Name one of your proudest baking achievements, whether it be a collaboration, size of commission, or technique.
This may seem quite trivial but I make a cake with handmade marzipan fruits on top. Originally, the stems were made from thin wire, which looked totally perfect but was, of course, entirely inedible. I spent a long time working on an edible solution which would retain the fine detail but also hold up well to the moisture in the marzipan and storage in a fridge. I now make them from very thin strips of sugar paste, dipped in chocolate to form a barrier between the paste and the marzipan. I enjoy the scientific nature of problem solving in this way as you begin to develop a real understanding of how every ingredient affects elements of the final product.
What's your favourite smell in a bakery?
My very first baking job was at a tiny sourdough bakery in Bermondsey. The space was within another bakery so had no windows or airflow to speak of. This made the smell of the bread baking quite intoxicating. We’d start at 02:00, loading loaves shaped the previous day into a deck oven for hours and hours. I will say that the smell of the bread baking would make those early mornings slightly less painful. Although I don’t work with bread now, I truly don’t believe there is a better smell in the world.
When it comes to Christmas, what is your go-to treat?
Mince pies! I always end up tweaking my recipe slightly every year but currently it’s a wholewheat based rough-puff pastry case with a quince and bergamot mincemeat filling. A chef friend of mine told me recently that he grates salted butter onto the mincemeat before topping the pies with their pastry lids, so that’s on my list to try this year.
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