Drawing inspiration from Cornflower, I jotted down the names of a few cakes from South Riding to try. There is Queen's cake, tea cake and currant loaf so far. Since there is a Royal wedding just a flip of the calendar away I wondered what Queen's cake was all about.
Lo and behold, when I did some research the information came from a website featuring none other than Mrs Rundell and her book, A New System of Domestic Cookery. This re-issue by Persephone just happens to be on my shelf! During the Regency era these cakes would have been turned out of their cup and as you can imagine were the beginning of what we now call a cupcake.
The best bit is that they're described as being 'not really a substantial cake' which sounds like an invitation to enjoy more than one. So unless something else tempts me along the way as I'm just three-quarters the way through South Riding, I will be giving this recipe a try. Let's hope I can make Mrs Rundell proud. If I screw things up horribly there is always the hot buttered toast that also gets a mention.
Cakes and books and tea, could there be a more delightful combination? I've lost count of how many Victoria Sponges I've read about without ever having tasted one! I might have to get down to some baking myself now...
ReplyDeleteDELICIOUS. I fancy making those this weekend. I was glad that they included a note on how it was safe to put teacups in the oven - that was the first thing I questioned, as I have ruined very many nice ceramics of my mother's by putting them in the oven when I clearly shouldn't have!
ReplyDeleteButter or royal icing though? I just can't decide.
Claire - I can't believe you've never tasted a Victoria Sponge! They are one of my chiefest pleasures in LIFE!!
I am English, love afternoon tea (with small sandwiches, cakes and scones, etc) but have never before heard of Queen's cake! There is a Queen of Puddings, which is a confection made with white breadcrumbs, egg custard, jam and meringue; I would love to try out Queen's cake, but I would not like to risk my cups in the oven.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, Captive Reader, you MUST make a Victoria sponge cake. It is soooo simple! It has but four basic ingredients (plus jam for the filling, or jam and cream if you prefer.)
You require two matching tins, what we call 'sandwich' tins, as you sandwich the two halves together once you've baked the cakes. The ingredients are fat (I use soft margarine), white caster sugar (this is finer than granulated sugar, I don't know what you'd call it), eggs and self-raising flour (i.e. not plain flour, again white.)
I like a deep Victoria sponge, so I use a 4 egg mixture, i.e. all the other ingredients are the weight as four eggs, i.e. 8 oz. So you cream together 8 oz of margarine (or butter if you prefer) with 8 oz of caster sugar. Then you gradually add the beaten 4 eggs, and then add the sifted self raising flour. You divide this mixture between two sandwich tins and bake in a moderate oven, around 160C-170C, for around 25 minutes or until the cakes have risen but are a little firm to the touch when pressed on the top. Remove onto a wire cooling tray and then, when completely cold, you can jam one half and put whipped cream on the other half and sandwich them together. Dust with icing sugar and voila, you have a Victoria sponge cake.
This mixture can be used for all kinds of sandwich cakes like this, you can put lemon or coffee butter cream through the middle and spread on the top, or you can substitude some of the self raising flour with cocoa (about 2 oz) and make a chocolate cake, which you can then sandwich together with coffee butter cream and put melted dark chocolate on top. As I say, easy peasy!
Margaret P
Oh, perfect! I'm 2/3s of the way through South Riding and loving it...and some of us are planning a royal wedding breakfast of our own.
ReplyDeleteI loved South Riding and the TV drama (in 3 hour-long episodes) was also very good although the ending was rushed somewhat. The book is long and really would've benefited by editing, but it's still an excellent read. Yes, one of the great pleasures in life are books and cakes, cakes and books ...
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
Anon has the perfect victoria sponge recipe there. I too use the method whereby eggs are weighed first and all other ingredients are equal measure.
ReplyDeleteOther English favourites are Angel cake, Malt Loaf (sliced and spread with butter), lemon drizzle cake, carrot cake and fruit scones.
carol
Oh, Dizzy C, I make lemon drizzle cake, too! I make that in a loaf-shaped tin, and I use much the same method as Victoria sponge, but I add slightly more flour, and a lot of lemon zest in the mix (using a fine Microplane grater.) When the cake comes out of the oven, I prick it all over and pour on a mixture of lemon juice and golden granulated sugar. This must be mixed at the last moment before pouring it over the still-warm cake, so that the sugar doesn't dissolve completely and leaves the cake moist with lemon juice but with the crusty sugar on top. Totally yummy!
ReplyDeleteI signed in as Anonynmous in error.
Margaret P
Looks delicious! Can't go wrong with a good book and cake :) K x
ReplyDeleteHow fascinating, I genuingely didn't know the origins of the cupcakes being baked in actual cups! I am familiar with Queen of Puddings too (vile in my opinion!), but had not come across a Queen's cake. I do love cake though as you know!
ReplyDeleteQueen cakes as I know them are small sponge cakes with sultanas in, baked in paper cases. They're slightly more substantial than fairy cakes, which are what we all had here (UK) before the cup cake takeover.
ReplyDeletethecaptivereader, Surely the best combination in my book! Victoria sponge is dead easy to make and very pretty so what are you waiting for...get out those mixing bowls!
ReplyDeletebookssnob, Bet your Mum has pulled out her best teacups from her hiding spot now that you're very far away! The icing dilemma is a tough one but I'm leaning towards the royal...sounds very fitting.
Margaret, I don't know what you're waiting for...I'd say you have a baking blog inside you just screaming to get out!
Audrey, Oh good! We can compare notes once we're finished. Your royal breakfast will be so much fun, wish I could join in!
Dizzy C, Malt Loaf is a new one to me...hmmm, that's one to google.
Kristina, The only downside is sticky fingers and pages!
verity, Hahaha...I must look up this vile pudding! And yes, you are the Queen of Cake.
callmemadam, Tailor-made cakes depending on what you fancy. And I just love the very sound of 'fairy cakes'!
Oh Darlene, Malt Loaf is amazing - it's this dark, juicy, sweet, chewy, sticky, malty, raisin-y bread that comes in small loaves - you don't tend to buy it fresh, they are made by people like Soreen or Warburtons. My mum used to give me and my brother and sister slices of malt loaf with butter as our snack when we got in from school. It's healthy but very filling! I adore it. I wonder if you can get it here? If not my friend is coming next week and I'll get her to bring me two packs and I'll send you one!
ReplyDeleteIf I did a baking blog it would consist only of Victoria sponges and lemon drizzle cake and Christmas cake! Besides, if I wrote a blog I wouldn't get anything else done ... no writing, no reading, no baking, no photography, no listening to music, no smelling the roses ...
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
Just a PS to my comment above, as well as Victoria sponges, lemon drizzle and Christmas cake I do a fruit cake the recipe for which came on a packet of Stork margarine in the 1960s! It is an all-in-one mix, i.e. you measure out your ingredients into a mixing bowl and then mix the whole lot together in one go - the sugar, fruit, eggs, margarine, flour, etc. It looks DISGUSTING to start with and then looks just like any cake mixture which you then turn into a loaf tin to bake. I also make something called a Belgian Loaf. I don't know why it is called this, it was a recipe on the radio in the 1970s. You put maragine, sugar, sultanas and milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil, allow to cool (again it looks DISGUSTING) and then add flour and egg and bake in the oven; basically it's a boil-and-bake cake, but lovely sliced (when cold) and buttered, a really tasty tea-bread.
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
Oh gosh, now I'm hungry again, even as the crumbs of my freshly made breakfast cinnamon rolls (very dead easy)are still on my lips.
ReplyDeleteThe lemon drizzle sounds very like my lemon loaf from Laura Secord's Canadian Cookbook (ca. 1967) which I'm planning to bake today for a) my CNIB shift and b) my choir event.
And then the malt loaf. Sounds like my cup of tea. Also, these dark gooey recipes are reminding me of date loaf, which I haven't had in decades.
Okay, back into the kitchen, when I should really be doing my taxes.
P.S. Don't you love some of the verification words that pop up. The one for my just-posted comment was HEXORMIC.
ReplyDeleteIntriguing. Wonder what it would mean, if it were a real word.
so happy! I, too, love the snacking and tea in English books.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great entry; thanks so much
Lovely as your cake in the picture is, Darlene, I'm sure Mrs Beddows wouldn't have risked her teacups. Queen cakes - as callmemadam points out - are simply fairy cakes with a few sultanas thrown in. We always made them in bun tins, didn't even run to paper cases except for a party! You'd find the recipe in any old-fashioned cookery book, like the Good Housekeeping books. Oooh, I haven't had one for years ... but I've just demolished half a Soreen malt loaf this afternoon, very more-ish. And malt loaf is one of those things that are better bought than homemade.
ReplyDeletePS If you are tempted by Mrs Beddows' Yorkshire cheese cakes, they bear no resemblance to American cheesecake. They're little pastry tarts, filled with a mixture of curd cheese, eggs, sugar and a few currants, then baked. Delicious.
bookssnob, You are so thoughtful, Rachel, but keep those loaves to share with your friend. You know how things work, now that I know about Malt loaf I am bound to see it on a shelf somewhere or I can whip one up! Thank you for the lovely offer though!
ReplyDeleteSusan, If you spot Malt loaf during your travels around TO please let me know and I will do the same if I find it first!
Hahaha, word verification comes up with some doozies...now back to your taxes!
Birdie, Glad you enjoyed it...cheers!
Mary, I'm sure you are right about that! She has her knickers in a twist at the moment over Sarah. Nothing gets past that one.
Oh I do love a woman who enjoys her cake...well done you and thanks for the heads up on English cheesecake...I had no idea!
I did make malt loaf myself at home years ago when I only had 2 kids. One more child means a lot less time for baking.
ReplyDeleteUsing malt extract. It was delicious.
Nowadays I do buy the shop bought variety which are much stickier.
carol
I LOVE malt loaf...sadly have not found a gluten free equivalent :(
ReplyDeleteLooks yummy--I do wish I were a more talented cook!
ReplyDelete