The cake menu at Grove Blend Field changes every six to eight weeks. It is not a rigid schedule: it shifts when a supplier runs out of something, when a recipe is not working, or when the season moves faster than expected. Jonah has been baking here since autumn 2019 and has developed a process that is part planning, part improvisation.

Starting with what is in season

Jonah starts each menu cycle by looking at what is coming into season from the suppliers he uses regularly. Stone fruit from a Kent grower in summer, quince and pear from a farm in Herefordshire in autumn, forced rhubarb from Yorkshire in late winter. The ingredient comes first, and the recipe follows. He does not start with a recipe and then look for ingredients to fit it.

The role of Shipton Mill flour

Almost everything Jonah bakes uses flour from Shipton Mill in Gloucestershire. He uses their fine polenta for the lemon polenta cake, their strong white for the croissant dough, and their wholemeal for the rye-based bakes in winter. The flour has a flavour of its own, which is not something you notice until you bake with a generic supermarket flour and then switch back. He orders weekly, usually on a Monday, and the delivery arrives Tuesday morning.

Testing a new recipe

When Jonah is developing a new recipe, he bakes it at home first, usually on a Sunday evening. If it works, he scales it up for the café and bakes it on a Tuesday or Wednesday as a daily special before deciding whether it goes on the main menu. The stone fruit tart went through three versions before it settled: the first had too much frangipane, the second had the wrong ratio of butter to ground almonds, and the third was right.

What gets cut and why

A recipe comes off the menu when the main ingredient goes out of season, when it stops selling consistently, or when Jonah is bored of making it. The last reason is legitimate: if the person baking something has lost interest in it, the result shows. The lemon polenta cake is an exception. It has been on every summer menu since 2020 because people get genuinely upset when it is not there.

The current cake menu is on the counter board each morning. If you want to know what is coming next, ask Jonah. He is usually around until noon.