Jan 03 2009
Another slice of that please…
It is a great shame in some ways that changes in our society and family lives has driven out afternoon tea as a regular meal fixture, because with it has gone much of the enthusiasm for baking at home that many women of my generation learned at home with our Mums and grandmothers and in domestic science lessons at school. Some of our best-known TV chefs like Nigella Lawson, Delia Smith and Rachel Allen have started to reverse the trend and that is good news because without them, we might consign some of the most delicious British regional cakes to history within a very few years.
I love to have a cake to slice or individual cakes for an afternoon snack when the writing ideas and energy are flagging or to offer an unexpected visitor.
Almost every county has a ‘signature’ cake or pastry and there are other cakes, adopted from abroad like the marzipan-covered Battenburg cake which have become unmistakeably British. If I had to name one cake that was typical of the whole country rather than a region, it would probably have to be a Victoria sponge sandwich.
I have to diversify here into a little family story. The mark of a good sponge cake is it is depth, texture and moistness. My Mum was one of four sisters all of whom were good cooks, but one, my Auntie Ruby always excelled at getting her cakes to rise, and they became known as ‘Risborough’ cakes after where she lived at Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. There was a good deal of rivalry and sometimes a little spite and sisterly jealousy in this name-calling and some speculation about what she put in the cake.
Victoria Sponge is usually made with self-raising flour in the UK, but I wonder if she used plain (all-purpose) and added raising agents or added an extra pinch of baking powder to the self-raising. It may also have something to do with her oven which was part of an old-fashioned Aga solid fuel range that also heated the house. I’ll be giving my own recipe and alternative mixing methods in a future post.
To return to the regional theme, I’ll name some of my particular favourites, gleaned from various books and websites, and from a scrapbook of handwritten recipes which I inherited from my Mum – probably one of the nicest things she ever gave me along with the enjoyment and creativity of home baking.
Chelsea buns come from London and are a yeast bun with dried fruit and peel. The dough is coiled into individual portions with the fruit inside the coils, then batched together to rise and bake and pulled apart again when cooked. The top is glazed with sugar syrup and/or sprinkled with extra sugar.
Parkin is a kind of gingerbread from Yorkshire. It is made with fine oatmeal or a mix of oatmeal and flour with dark treacle or golden syrup for moistness and a smoky flavour which complements the ginger. Similar recipes are also claimed by other northern counties such as Durham. The link gives you a choice of similar recipes.
Bara Brith is a Welsh fruited tea bread. Recipes vary, the dried fruit is often soaked in tea overnight and the bread can be served plain or toasted with or without butter. For a quick treat, try Welsh Cakes which also have dried fruit in and are cooked on a griddle or heavy metal skillet.
Eccles cakes are from a town near the port of Liverpool in Lancashire and are a delectable puff pastry outer, enclosing dried fruit. They are dusted with crunchy Demerara sugar and also make a great dessert served hot with vanilla custard. The linked recipe is from Delia Smith’s website.
Banbury cakes are similar to Eccles cakes – Banbury is in Oxfordshire. Another recipe for these cakes that I have, adds ground almonds to the filling.
Cornwall’s sweet treat is saffron cakes. The county has prehistoric and Roman connections and the remains of ancient buildings, stone circles and civilisations. It also has its own language, with similarities to both Welsh and Breton. Most probably the saffron arrived with the earliest settlers from Europe, the Phoenicians.
Staying in the West Country, Devon Splits are a yeast bun, made special with a filling of jam and thick cream in the middle which the county is also renowned for. Dorset and Somerset are major apple producing counties and from there comes a moist cake with finely chopped cooking apples and a hint of mixed spice. Variations have the apple sliced on top or include cider.
Going north to Scotland, travel to Dundee for a rich fruit cake topped with almonds. Rather than a cup of tea, you might like a small glass of your favourite malt whisky with this one, it’s a great combination.
Scones are made by rubbing the fat into the flour as you would do for pastry, but is mixed with milk or buttermilk rather than water. The dough is lightly rolled or shaped and flattened, then cut into rounds and baked. Split your scones, top each half with cream and jam, but no butter for the real English teatime experience. Working quickly and a light touch is the secret of making good scones.
Apart from Victoria sponge and its variations made with coffee and walnut or a dash of fresh orange juice and grated zest, there is a particular cake that I associate with my Mum and that is Lemon Drizzle. It’s a simple, all-in-one cake that can be whipped up in a mixer in a few minutes. Plenty of lemon zest goes in the cake, and the juice is made into a syrup and poured over the hot cake. The cake is simply two large eggs, and their weight in caster sugar, self-raising flour. (or plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder and ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda). You’ll need 2 small or one large lemon. Whiz all the cake ingredients in the mixer or food processor till well blended and add the lemon zest and whiz briefly again. Cook in a loaf tin. Add about 3 tablespoons of sugar to the lemon juice for the syrup. . Use a skewer or toothpicks to make little holes and ensure the syrup soaks in well. Wrap in greaseproof and leave a day before eating if you can resist it that long.
