Grandmother Gingerbread does it for me

Grandmother Gingerbread

This recipe came from a cherished family handwritten folder belonging to Peggy Burton who lived in Mansfield. Her Grandmother Gingerbread was very popular with family, neighbours and friends. I wondered  how the recipe would turn out with so much black treacle but my fears were unfounded. I used half the sugar and omitted the salt in Peggy's original version since I was using salted butter.

 Peggy Burton’s Grandmother Gingerbread

10oz/275g self-raising flour

3 level tsps ground ginger

1 level tsp cinnamon

40z/110g soft brown sugar

6oz/175g black treacle

6 tbsps vegetable oil

2 eggs

150ml/¼ pint milk

2oz/50g chopped walnuts

2oz/50g raisins

Pre heat the oven to 180C/ Mark 4/350C. Mix all the ingredients together (Peggy says for not less than 2 minutes!). Bake in a greased or lined cake tin (I used a cake tin measuring 8 inch x 10 inch (21cms x 25 cms ) for between 1 and half to 2 hours.

 Meryl says : This is a lovely traditional recipe which ticks all the boxes for me – easy to bake, keeps well and full of taste. The heat of the ginger is perfect on those autumn days which herald the darker winter months ahead. Thanks, Peggy for a fabulous recipe!

What's your favourite autumn recipe? 

Orange Cake says ‘We still do’

We were invited to a Renewal of wedding vows ceremony at a venue was the in a room I know well, The Great Kitchen in The Mansion House Doncaster  which now serves as Doncaster's Registry Office.  

I did some filming with a group of university students studying for their media degrees so I was pleased to see the Kitchen Range still proudly in place alongside display cabinets in its reconfiguration as a wedding venue.

Renewing your vows has been around in Italy for some time and is a way to celebrate marriage after any length of time 2, 5, 10, 25 or 50 years together. You want the world to know you’d do it all over again. So, it called for a suitable cake at the ‘We still do’ party afterwards. C and J just wanted something simple so I baked one of my favourites, Grandma’s Orange Cake. It’s such a versatile cake and fits any occasion. 

Orange Cake

12 oz (175g) butter

12 oz (175g) caster sugar

6 eggs

12 oz (175g) self raising flour (sieved)

Grated zest of 2 oranges

Strained juice of 2 orange 

To decorate

Orange Slices

Icing Sugar 

 Orange Butter cream filling

Preheat the oven to 180°C, Mark 4, 350F. Line the base of 2 x 25 cms /10 inch cake tins with non-stick baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat the eggs and add a little at a time, adding a dessertspoonful of flour with each egg. Fold in the remaining flour, orange zest and orange juice. Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake for about 25-30 minutes until it starts to shrink from the sides and a cake skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean. Place on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the rack and leave until cool. Spread butter cream on the top of one cake and place the other cake on top. Decorate the top with orange slices or sprinkle with icing sugar. I made initials of their names cut out from stiff card to use as templates for the icing for a simple but effective decoration.

It was brilliant to see The Great Kitchen being put into use once again for such a lovely occasion. And everyone likes a piece of cake to celebrate!

Whisk away Georgian Macaroons and Syllabub

Georgian Macaroons

This is the 4th Georgian baking recipe to mark 300 years following the birth of James Paine, architect of The Mansion House in Doncaster. Macaroons or Ratafia Drops were a popular form of sweet in 18th century households. They would be served with tea or a glass of ratafia. 

Here’s the recipe from The Cook and Housewife’s Manual: by Mistress Margaret Dods

Macaroons or Ratafia Drops

Blanch and beat, with an ounce of fine sugar and a little water, four ounces of bitter, and two ounces of sweet almonds. Add to the paste a pound of sugar, the whites of two eggs, and a little noyeau. Beat the whole well, and when light drop the batter from a biscuit funnel on paper, of the size of pigeons’ eggs, and bake the drops on tins.

There is a reference to bitter and sweet almonds. Sweet almonds are frequently used in cooking. Bitter almonds should not be eaten raw as they contain a toxic chemical which is dangerous to humans and animals. It is quite safe to use Almond extract or Almond essence, other than for anyone who has a nut allergy. I’ve used ground almonds and almond extract to bring this recipe up to date.

Macaroons or Ratafia biscuits

2 medium egg whites

175g /¾ cup caster sugar

175g /¾ cup ground almonds

½ teaspoon of almond extract

A few drops of rosewater

Pre-heat the oven to 325F / 170C / 150C fan. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. In a separate bowl mix together the ground almonds and sugar, then fold into the egg whites, together with the almond essence. The mixture needs to firm enough to roll into small balls (about the size of a walnut). If it’s too wet, add more ground almonds. Place the balls onto a baking parchment, and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden-brown. You can top with a sliver of almond. They should be crisp and crunchy on the outside, and soft and chewy in the middle.

To accompany the Macaroons, Hannah Glasse’s recipe for Syllabub from The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy 1747 may prove interesting to make at home …first milk your cow!

Syllabub 

To make a fine syllabub from the cow: Make your syllabub of either Cyder or Wine, sweeten it pretty sweet, and grate nutmeg in, then milk the Milk into the Liquor; when this is done, pour over the Top half a pint or pint of Cream, according to the Quantity of Syllabub you make.  You may make this syllabub at Home, only have new milk; make it as hot as milk from the Cow, and out of a tea pot or any such thing, pour it in, holding your Hand very high.

Here’s my updated version. It’s a very easy dessert.

Syllabub

½ pint/10fl oz/300ml double cream

finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

¼ pint/5fl oz/150ml white wine or

a mixture of sherry and white wine

2 oz. caster sugar

slices of lemon peel

Place all the ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Whisk until light but not too thick.  Place the mixture into small glasses and refrigerate until required. Decorate with slices of lemon peel before serving.

The visitors lapped it all up at the Georgian celebrations at Cusworth Hall in Doncaster. 

Shrewsbury Biscuits are a 21st century hit

This is another recipe in the series of Georgian baking to mark 300 years following the birth of James Paine, architect of The Mansion House in Doncaster. Shrewsbury Biscuits or Cakes which are named after the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire UK are very familiar today. In Shrewsbury Castle Foregate there is a plaque referring to Mr Palin’s unique recipe in 1760. Throughout its history, nutmeg, caraway and coriander seeds have featured amongst the ingredients. These spices and others, such as cardamom, cloves and ginger were used extensively in traditional baking to enhance the flavour of cakes and biscuits (and reduce the need for sugar!).

I’ve adapted a recipe for these biscuits from the 1826 The Cook and Housewife’s Manual by Mistress Margaret Dods. 

Beat half a of cold butter to a cream, and mix with it six ounces of sifted sugar, eight ounces of flour, some pounded cinnamon, two eggs beat, add a little rose water. Roll out the paste a quarter of an inch in thickness, adding a little more flour if necessary, and stamp out the cakes of any shape or size that is liked.

Here’s Grandma Abson's recipe 

110g/4oz butter

75g/3oz sugar

200g/7oz flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 egg beaten 1 tsp rosewater

50g/2oz currants

Pre heat the oven to 180C or 160C fan. Rub the flour and butter together to resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, rosewater and the beaten egg. (Add the currants to the mixture at this point). Mix to a dough, and leave to chill for half an hour. Roll out to ¼ inch/0.4cm thick, and cut out the biscuits. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden-brown.

It's fascinating that we still enjoy these recipes from the past. Shrewsbury Biscuits certainly proved to be a 21st century hit with the visitors. Did you know it was such an old recipe.

Georgian Seed Cake stands the test of time

Georgian celebration events at Cusworth Hall bring a Georgian Family day with activities for everyone to enjoy. In the Great Kitchen, I prepared baking recipes from the Georgian and Regency era for visitors to sample. Seed Cake was very popular. This recipe from The Universal Cook written in 1806 by Francis Collingwood & John Woollams, principal cooks at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, proves that good recipes can stand the test of time.

I’ve adapted the old recipe for modern ovens. Georgian bakers would use a Hoop which is a round metal band without a top or a bottom but nowadays, an ordinary cake or loaf tin would be fine.

Seed Cake

225g/8 oz butter

225g/8 oz sugar

3 eggs (beaten)

225g/8oz plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

3 tsps caraway seed

1 tbsp ground almonds

Pinch of salt

A little milk to mix 

1 tbsp demerara sugar for topping (optional)

Preheat the oven to Mark 3, 170C. Grease and line an 21cm/8 inch cake tin. Cream the butter and fat with the sugar. Add the eggs gradually. Mix the flours, baking powder, mixed spice, salt and caraway seed together. Fold these into the creamed mixture. Add a little milk to give a soft consistency. Pour into the cake tin and sprinkle demerara sugar on the top if desired. Bake in a slow oven for about one and a half hours. 

It’s the caraway seed with its distinctive anise taste which divides everyone on taste. Where do you stand on caraway seed – love it or hate it? 

Come to tea ...

I can’t resist this invitation to 'Come to Tea' from Sheila’s old recipe book. It’s an interesting teabread recipe for Orange Walnut Bread. The old recipe refers to cupfuls for most of the ingredients so I’ve converted this to metric and imperial weights and measures.  It’s a lighter teabread than the usual ones with dried fruit so I think it would have been a popular summer recipe.

Orange Walnut Bread

5 cupfuls flour (550g/1lb 4oz)

1 cupful wheatmeal (110g/4oz)

6 tsps baking powder

1 cupful sugar (110g/40z)

½ cupful mixed peel (50g/2oz)

½ cupful chopped walnuts (50g/20z)

2 cupfuls milk (300ml/½ pint)

1 egg

Pre the oven to 170C/Mark 3/325F Sift the flour, wheatmeal, baking powder and sugar together. Stir in the mixed peel and walnuts. Mix thoroughly, then lightly beat in the milk and egg. Turn into 2 greased or lined loaf tins. Bake for 45 minutes in a moderate oven.

 Meryl says : This recipe works very well as a teabread especially when spread with lashings of butter. It’s a perfect addition to Grandma Abson's Afternoon tea repertoire! What do you think?

Georgian Gingerbread takes the biscuit

Three hundred years following the birth of James Paine, architect of  The Mansion House Doncaster, a number of events are being held to commemorate the occasion. It was a great privilege to try out some Georgian/Regency baking recipes at one of the events. I adapted a recipe from the 1826 The Cook and Housewife’s Manual by Mistress Margaret Dods.

Gingerbread

Two pounds of flour, a half pound of brown sugar, a half pound of orange peel cut into bits, an ounce of ground ginger, half an ounce of caraway seeds, cloves, mace, and some allspice. Mix with these a pound and a half of treacle, and a half pound of melted butter. Mix the ingredients well together, and let them stand for some hours before rolling out the cakes. The paste will require a little additional flour in rolling out. Cut the cakes, mark, the top in diamonds with a knife, and bake them on tin plates.

 Here’s my updated version for Georgian Gingerbread

175g/6oz black treacle or molasses

50g/20z butter

50g/2oz light brown sugar

250g/9oz plain flour

50g/2oz orange peel/mixed peel

1-2 teaspoonsful ground ginger

½ teaspoon caraway seeds

½ teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon allspice

Preheat the oven to 180C or 160C fan oven. Warm the sugar, butter and black treacle/molasses in a pan until melted. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the sugar/butter/molasses mix. Mix well, then leave in the fridge to cool for 30 minutes. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1 cm, then cut into diamond shapes. Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes.

Georgian Gingerbread proved popular with visitors, including the Civic Mayor. The black treacle makes for a more intense flavour and a heavier texture than the lighter Gingerbread we are more used to. What's your take on Georgian era baking? 

Looks as good as it tastes

Grandma Abson’s recipes have always had fantastic feedback about their taste, texture and simplicity but capturing all that in a simple photo has proved more of a challenge for me than baking her recipes.

I only have one photo of Grandma with a cake and that's the one on her 90th birthday but, since starting to write Grandma Abson’s blog, I’ve amassed a wealth of photos of her wonderful baking at talks and events to celebrate her legacy.

I’ve also learnt some tips and tricks about what works and what doesn’t in food photography by seeing what professional photographers do and looking at food photos in magazines, cookbooks and websites. 

I'm trying to make Grandma’s baking look just as inviting as the taste. My early attempts didn’t do justice to her recipes but I’d like to think that, although I’m not a photographic genius, I’ve made some progress. 

Most of all, the advent of the smart phone camera has made it much more accessible for me. Developments in cameras show see how far camera technology has come. So, here are my 5 ideas for perfect Food-tography:

Make the food look tempting 

You don’t need to use the tricks of the professional food stylists but it’s worth cutting into a Paradise Cake so it looks as if you are inviting the viewer to take a slice.

Balance the shot 

Arrange the ingredients for Parkin so you are showing what’s needed. Move the items around the board to draw the eye to a different angle.

Check the lighting 

Try to use natural light and not flash unless necessary. Create the right ambiance for these Flakemeal Biscuits so it’s not too harsh or dull.

Crop the first attempt 

Focus down on a key element of these Yorkshire Puddings.

Check the camera tools 

Check out the tools to edit your photos. They can turn an acceptable photo into an exceptional one with the Easter chicks loving this Simnel Cake.

Grandma would have found it amazing to see photos of her mouth-watering recipes. Just as we can’t resist the aromas and tastes of home baking straight out of the oven, make sure it looks as good it tastes! Have you got more camera tips to snap that taste?

A safe pair of hands

Grandma Abson was never too explicit about baking temperatures. Her recipes ranged from ‘cool, slow, fast, warm, moderate, fairly hot, hot' to 'very hot’. Those early years cooking on Yorkshire ranges had equipped her with that mysterious knowledge of what was just the right heat for whatever she was baking.

Shortbread Biscuits

Victoria Sandwich 

Yorkshire Puddings  

Much of her expertise in baking was based on what she thought was common sense, making sure the oven was heated up and getting the ingredients to room temperature before mixing. 

Modern ovens have temperature controls so we can preheat them and know when to put in our bakes. Oven mitts and gloves provide essential protection for our hands to take hot things in and out.

Back in Grandma’s early days as a below stairs cook for  her employer, Mrs. Hick and her family, Grandma had been told to put her hand in the oven to check the temperature. Thankfully, we don’t do have to do this now. Although Grandma never said she hurt her hands, the chances of a serious burn must have been high. So wear oven gloves or mitts at all times to protect your hands from burns.

Grandma worked with coal, gas and electric ovens during her life and was always keen to keep the oven clean. Fortunately, we don’t have to ‘black lead’ now but we do need to keep our ovens and microwaves clean as grease is a major source of fire in the home and half of all house fires start in the kitchen. Electrical Safety First has more tips and advice. 

Take care and follow these simple rules to stay safe in the kitchen. Grandma wouldn’t want us to take safety in the kitchen for granted. It’s a piece of cake! 

Have you got a tip or a story to share for a safe pair of hands?