Our Own Great British Baker!

Although “Love” can be a British surname, many English natives use it as a friendly, warm greeting, as in “How’re you doin’, love?” This phrase became so synonymous with nurse June Lawton in her 40-plus years at Rhode Island Hospital that it became her nickname, June Love, and a perfect name for her bakery, June Love’s English Bakery. June first came to the United States as an au pair, more than 50 years ago, from a one-mile-square village in Yorkshire (Harpham). But she started a family here, and upon retirement, she began to bake the pastries, both savory and sweet, that she’d grown up with. Things like flapjacks (a soft chewy granola bar—no relation to a pancake); rock cakes (like soft scones); meat pies with grass-fed beef; cakes with natural flavors and no food coloring (just raspberry juice or orange marmalade); fruit pies; buttery shortbreads; sticky toffee pudding (my favorite); and Bakewell tarts (June’s favorite). The latter contain a filling of ground almonds and rice flour and are topped with a bit of icing and fruit. She also makes special-order cakes like the classic Victoria sponge. June runs the bakery with son Nishan, and, at Christmas, they will bake mincemeat pies and sell Christmas puddings.

796 Aquidneck Ave., Middletown (behind Custom House Coffee). Also at the Aquidneck, Mount Hope and Pawtucket farmers markets; 401.207.7246; JuneLovesEnglishBakery.com