Nothing sour about Vinegar Cake

There is nothing sour in the Vinegar Cake recipe which Pat’s friend Sheila wrote out for me. It’s actually a WW2 recipe where a dash of vinegar replaces the egg. 

I made her original recipe using double quantities to make a cake to take to my talk about WW2 rationing and how it affected baking. Sheila was a school girl at the time but remembers the recipe from her School Cookery in 1942. Dried fruit went on the rationing list in January 1942 so making a small cake like this would be quite precious. The vinegar replaces eggs which were also rationed and in short supply unless you kept hens!

Vinegar Cake

8oz/225g flour

4oz/110g butter (or margarine)

3oz/75g mixed fruit

3oz sugar

2 tsps bicarbonate of soda

4 tsps vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

½ pint/275ml milk

Pre heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Rub the butter into the flour. Add the fruit, sugar and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well. Add the vinegar and enough milk to make a stiff dropping consistency. Place in a greased/lined cake tin. (I used a 2lbs/1kg loaf tin but you could use a 7inch/20cms round or square cake tin). Bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes.

Meryl says : It’s a very simple cake which works well and useful as a light fruit cake if you need an egg free diet. Don’t let the Vinegar in the name of the cake put you off!