One cake which I fell totally in love with when I moved to the UK was the Traditional Battenburg Cake. This was not a cake which I had ever heard of prior to moving there.
There really is no end to the varieties of traditional and regional cakes and goodies amongst those fertile green and septred isles! With it's church window appearance, delicious texture and flavours, the Battenburg was one of my favourites.
After the holidays we are firmly entrenched in Winter, and with Covid, this year can be feeling especially depressing to you. We are all stuck in our homes, and our natural freedoms have been somewhat curtailed, and for good reason.
We may find ourselves in need of a "Pick Me Up" maybe more than ever. One thing I really like to do in the Winter months is to plan and prepare a small Tea Party, even if it is just for one or two people.
A Tea Party is one way to perk up your days and bring a bit of sunshine into your life! Are we not all in need of a bit of a lift?
You don't need anything special, or a load of people to attend. Some of the best tea parties of
all happen when there's just two of you, and I have been known to really enjoy an intimate tea party for just one. And why not?
All you need is a table spread with a fine cloth and some tea . . . in a
pot of course, (today we had blackberry and mint and it was
delicious!) and cups and saucers. You also need some delicious foods, although they need not be overly complicated.
The perfect afternoon tea (or High Tea as it is also called) should begin with some delicious savouries . .
. finger sandwiches, sausage rolls, little toasts, savoury pastries . .
. followed with scones (if you wish) and a selection of small fancies and
cakes.
You don't need a lot of sandwiches, only a few different types will do. I think we all have things in our cupboards and larders to make up a few sandwiches. Egg Salad. Ham. Cheese and pickle. Tomato. Cucumber (very traditional). There is no end to the types we can make.
Sausage rolls and tiny turnovers are also very popular. We had some in the freezer leftover from Christmas. Even Deviled Eggs can be quite welcome! I adore Deviled Eggs. You can find my recipe for those here.
For dainties all you need is a selection of a few bits and bobs. I am sure we all still have things leftover from Christmas. Shortbread cookies, squares and the like.
You don't really need a lot of them, one or two per person is quite sufficient. Even fancy chocolates are a treat. Just choose a few bits that really strike your fancy and give you a small bit of pleasure.
Of course the star of any good Tea Table will be a fresh baked cake. You won't get much nicer than a beautiful Battenburg Cake. If you love almond, then this is the cake for you.
A firm favourite on
the traditional English tea table, this is a very pretty two coloured
sponge cake, put together like a pink and white checker board pattern. I think you may actually be quite surprised as how very easy it is to make one of these delicious cakes!
You only need to create a simple sponge cake batter. The sponge batter is divided in half with one half being coloured pink with a bit of pink food colouring.
These get baked in the same tin. If you like you can separate the two batters with a strip of aluminium foil, or bake them separately in small loaf tins. .
Personally, I never have a problem baking them both in the same cake tin however.
They stay largely separate and you will be trimming the edges once the
cake has cooled, so it is very easy to separate the two colours.
Once cooled each colour is separated, trimmed and cut into two long strips. These strips are then sandwiched together in a checkerboard pattern, using seedless raspbery jelly and vanilla buttercream as a glue.
Its quite simply really. If your cake is completely cold you only need a good and sharp serrated knife to do the job. Just cut and trim as needed.
You don't have to put jam and butter cream between each layer if you don't want to, although that is traditional. On this day I did jam one way and buttercream the other way. Feel free to use a good quality store brand if that is what you have.
Raspberry jam and butter cream are traditional, but do feel free to use something else if you are not fond. This is all about creating a pretty cake that everyone will enjoy.
Once you have your checkerboard created you will need to brush the whole cake in more jam and then wrap it in a thin layer of marzipan. The marzipan gets rolled out very thinly on a layer of granulated sugar, which helps to prevent it from sticking to the cutting board/counter and adds a delightful crunch.
If you are really feeling keen and industrious you can stretch this a bit and make a Hazelnut Battenburg Cake. This is a wonderful riff on the traditional, composed of a chocolate hazelnut batter layered with the white cake.
As you can see this is also very pretty. The layers are sandwiched together with chocolate hazelnut spread. I use nutella.
It is incredibly moreish. Especially if you enjoy chocolate!
When cut into slices this is a beautiful cake. I think it is really quite amazing looking. It is very impressive and not all that difficult.
It does require a little bit of
patience, but it's well worth any effort taken. It may take a bit of
practice to get the marzipan as tight as you would like it, but do
persevere as it is most beautiful when done
If you are looking for a mighty fine cake to serve at your teatime table, then this is the one to choose. Pretty and delicious. What more could you want??? Nom! Nom!
Yield: 6
Battenburg Cake
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 45 Mintotal time: 55 Min
This is a traditional cake that has appearing in British cookery books for over two centuries. The finished cake resembles somewhat a church stained glass window. This is a real treat for almond lovers and not as hard to make as it would seem!
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3/4 cup (175g) butter, softened
- 1 cup minus 2 TBS (175g) caster sugar
- 3 large free range eggs, beaten
- 1 1/4 cups (175g) self raising flour
- a little red food colouring
You will also need:
- 2/3 pound (275g) of natural almond paste (marzipan)
- warmed seedless raspberry jam (about 3 TBS)
- vanilla buttercream icing (about 3 TBS)
- granulated sugar to dust
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Butter a 7-inch square cake tin and line with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter together with the sugar until very light and fluffy.
- Add the lightly beaten eggs and the flour, a little at a time, beating until smooth.
- Divide the cake batter in half, placing each half in a different bowl.
- Tint one half with a bit of red food colouring to give you a pink batter.
- Spoon the pink batter into the left hand side of the tin, and the normal colour into the other side. Smooth the top gently.
- Bake in the oven for about 30 to 35 minutes or until firm when lightly pressed in the centre.
- Carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before proceeding.
- When the cake is completely cool, trim the edges of the cake and then divide it equally into 4 long sections, with two being pink and two being white.
- Using a little of the butter cream and some of the warmed raspberry jam, place one of each colour on the bottom and the remaining two on top. alternating the colours to give you a chequer board pattern and having some butter cream and jam between each. You will not need much, only just enough to make them adhere to the other.
- Dust the counter top with some granulated sugar and then roll out the marzipan on top. You need to roll it thinly into an oblong roughly the length of the cake and large enough to roll around the cake.
- Spread with a thin layer of jam and then place the sponge checkerboard on top. Roll the marzipan around the cake and seal with a bit more jam.
- Trim the edges neatly at each end. Place onto a plate with the "seam" underneath and lightly mark the top in the traditional criss cross pattern.
notes:
Make Your Own Self Raising Flour:
You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to every cup of plain flour.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
One thing I really love about the Winter months is that it is comfort food season. You cannot get much more comforting than a delicious plate of Toad in the Hole with plenty of mash, veg and gravy!
Toad in the Hole is a very British dish, and very much beloved by one and all. It consists of sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with onion gravy
and vegetables. You can dress it by adding herbs to the batter or
onions, etc. but basically it is just sausages and a pudding batter
baked together.
Simple. Today I have added to the appeal by wrapping strips of streaky bacon around the sausages before baking.
One thing I always loved about British Cuisine was their inventiveness in giving fun names to favorite dishes. Bubble and Squeak. Spotted Dick. Jam Roly Poly. Toenail Pudding. Sometimes they can sound a bit unappealing, but that is all a part of the fun of these names.
As unappealing as they sound, they are all incredibly delicious. They are a part and parcel and woven tightly into the fabric of British cuisine, being much beloved by its people. You cannot help but love them also.
This British family staple has been served on British Tables since the 18th century. It began as a delicious and inventive way of stretching and getting the most of what was a very precious commodity in that day. Meat.
During the Industrial revolution, which began mid-century, the working class worked incredibly hard jobs for a very meagre amount of pay. While their bosses became richer and richer off of the backs of the poor, the working poor needed to be incredibly inventive in making their resources stretch.
And nobody was truly exempt from having to work. Everyone in the family was expected to chip in and work for a wage, contributing their earnings to the wage pot to help and keep the family going.
Necessities such as shelter, clothing and food were the most important things, even more important than play and pleasure. Providing even these simple necessities of life often involved long and back breaking hours of labor.
And even then it was barely enough, all pooled together in the pot, to help to keep the family going. Pennies were pinched, and pinched and pinched some more.
It was often a necessity for families to stretch any bits of meat acquired by combining them with cheaper and more filling ingredients. In other words bulking them out with starches and such to help to fill the bellies for less.
Recipes such as this and other batter pudding dishes were very popular ways to do just that. When served with some potatoes and a cheap and tasty gravy on the side, these dishes were destined to become family favorites, to be handed down through the generations.
Dishes which we still love today. One thing is for certain, despite its very humble origins, this is a dish which has withstood the test of time. You cannot beat dishes like this. Humble, filling and delicious all rolled into one.
I doubt very much they could have afforded to splurge on two different meats such as bacon and sausage being served together, but you never know. In any case, it is a most delicious combination and a real favorite.
I like to use a good butcher's sausage. I don't like the really thick ones for this, although you certainly can use them if that's what you have. I prefer thinner ones. I get the best quality sausages my money can buy.
I like my sausages richly flavored and meaty. I don't like sausages which contain a lot of nasty fillers and preservatives. They have a really pasty texture which I find quite unpalatable. You really go get what you pay for and I highly recommend using good sausages.
Likewise bacon. I prefer the dry cure bacon. It just cooks up nicer with a much lower water content. If you can get nitrate free, do buy that! Its much healthier for you.
These are simply wrapped and placed in an oiled baking dish. You can bake them while you are making up the batter.
There is nothing out of the ordinary about the batter. It is simply flour, salt, eggs, milk and water. Beaten together and then poured around the partially baked sausages in the baking dish. I also like to add a goodly amount of pepper for seasoning.
Baked in the oven until the pudding is well risen and crisp and the sausages are perfectly golden brown and done through. You can't get much better than this.
We enjoy it with a huge pile of fluffy mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are the quintessential comfort food side. Light and fluffy, they are perfect for creating a little bowl to hold some of the delicious gravy that is also a must with this dish.
You can use gravy powder of course, or an envelope of gravy mix and most British do. But, making your own homemade gravy is also a very simple thing to do.
To make a lush onion gravy, you need to peel and thinly slice several large onions. Melt some butter, about 2 TBS in a skillet and then as soon as it begins to foam add the onions. I like to add some seasoning and a touch of sugar.
This helps the onions to brown very nicely. You do not really need a lot. Just a pinch will do, or you can leave it out altogether if you wish.
Once your onions have softened and are golden brown you need to sprinkle them with some flour. This depends on the amount of gravy you want. For two cups of gravy I add 2 TBS of flour.
You can use stock reconstituted from stock cubes or a good quality of broth from containers. Either will work well. For 2 cups of gravy you will need 2 cups or 480 ml of stock.
A bit of salt and pepper to season and you have a very nice gravy, which is delicious. Ready to spoon over your mashed potatoes and your Toad in the Hole.
And that is it! All you need now is some vegetables on the side. As you can see here today I cooked peas and carrots, but any vegetable will go well. I sometimes like to serve this with greens such cabbage or Brussels Sprouts.
You just serve this with whatever vegetable your family fancies. I guarantee you will receive no complaints from the peanut gallery. This is sure to become a firm favorite with the family or I will eat my hat!
Bacon & Sausage Toad in the Hole
Yield: 4
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 50 Mintotal time: 1 Hour
A delicious family favourite. Bacon wrapped sausages baked in a Yorkshire pudding batter until crisp and delicious. Fabulous served with mashed potatoes and hot gravy.
Ingredients
- 12 well flavoured sausages
- 12 slices of smoked streaky dry cure bacon
- 1 cup (140g) plain all-purpose flour, sifted
- pinch salt
- 2 large free range eggs, beaten
- 2/3 cup (160ml) semi skimmed milk
- 2/3 cup (160ml) water
- coarsely ground black pepper
To serve:
- Hot onion gravy
- Fluffy mashed potatoes
- Cooked vegetables
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Have ready a 9 by 13 inch casserole dish which you have sprayed with low fat cooking spray.
- Wrap each sausage tightly in a slice of bacon and arrange in the prepared dish. Place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes, until just beginning to brown.
- While the sausages are cooking, sift the flour into a bowl along with a pinch of salt. Make a well in the center. mix the milk and water together. Drop the beaten eggs into the center of the flour and then gradually beat in half of the milk/water mixture with a wooden spoon.
- Beat for 2 minutes until smooth, then gradually whisk in the remaining milk/water mixture until you have a smooth batter which has the consistency of cream. Season with coarsely ground black pepper.
- Remove the sausages from the oven and quickly pour the batter around them. Return to the oven and bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes until the batter is well risen and golden brown.
- Serve hot straight from the oven as above with your favorite accompaniments. Yum!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
This is one of my absolute all time favourite chicken casseroles. Not
only is is a great way to use up stale bread, but you can also use up
leftover cooked chicken or even turkey, or you can cook chicken specifically just to
use in it.
This is a recipe which I adapted from an Amish Cookery book I had many moons ago.
You know how that goes. Eventually the recipe becomes your own and it
is no different with this! Its now so much my own that it only vaguely
resembles the original.
I love recipes like this. They may seem a bit old fashioned, but they are always delicious and you don't really need to buy in anything special to make them. Most of the time you will have everything you need right in the house to make them.
I usually poach chicken to use in this recipe. You can also use leftover cooked roast chicken or the leftovers from a rotisserie chicken.
Poaching chicken is very easy to do. I usually poach a whole package of chicken breasts at a time.
Just take a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and place them into a saucepan large enough to hold them. Cover with either cold water or cold chicken broth, or a combination of the two.
You can add some salt and peppercorns if you wish. Just bring to the boil then simmer them, covered for about 5 to 8 minutes, depending on the size and amount of them.
Turn the burner off and leave them covered in the stock to cool down just until you can comfortably touch them with your hands. Remove from the stock, shred and use as you would for any recipe requiring cooked chicken. Don't forget to reserve the stock for use in this particular recipe.
The meat always comes out tender and juicy and filled with flavour. You can cook lots at one time and then just freeze it in lots containing two cups. I just double bag it in zip lock freezer bags.
Make sure you label it with the contents and date. Then you will always have cooked chicken on tap and ready to use. You can break it apart very easily from frozen, or thaw it out on the defrost cycle of your microwave oven.
Another thing I like to do when I am using celery is to destring it. I trim both ends and then catch the strings with the end of my knife and pull them towards me. You can just throw the strings away.
Celery strings can sometimes be really tough and chewy. Removing them takes away that problem. It doesn't take long. Lots of people don't like stringly celery. I don't like stringy celery. This way you get all of the flavour without any of the nuisance!
I use the whole loaf bread, crusts and all. Best is a rustic type of loaf, more like homemade bread. It is sturdier and holds up better. No need to dry it.
Just tear it into rough crumbs. You don't want them to be fine at all. You want some texture and substance.
I only ever use butter for cooking. I never use margarine, although I am sure that you could if you really wanted to. I prefer the flavour of butter and I like that it is an all natural product.
I really don't want to fill my body with artificial fats and chemicals. Butter all the way here! I also think butter has a flavour that nothing else really comes close to. That's me. I am a butter fiend!
You only want to add enough chicken stock to the bread to moisten it, so that it is not overly dry. You do NOT want it to be soggy in any way!
The original recipe was very plain. It had no onion, or herbs. I like onion and I like herbs. I also love stuffing, so my adaptions included ways to make it taste more like stuffing.
The original also didn't include celery or any stock. It was basically
just stewed chicken mixed with bread and a ton of butter, with some
celery seed and seasoning. It was very good. (Think of a whole pound
of butter. Yikes! No wonder it was considered tasty!)
Cutting the amount of butter back and adding some aromatics took nothing away from the original. Its a bit healthier and I love the flavours of the celery and onion, plus the herbs.
Not only that, but the butter you do use is infused with the
flavours of celery and onion so it really tastes better with less. Know
what I mean? You can't go wrong!
Whatever . . . stale bread, butter softened celery and onion, a
variety of herbs, seasoning and tender poached chicken mixed with a tiny
bit of stock and baked to give you one very delicious and simple
entree.
This is really very, very good. Especially if you serve it with a bit of gravy and some vegetables on the side. We like tiny boiled potatoes with ours, but mash would also be great!
Leave it to the Amish to create something incredibly delicious out of next to nothing!
Amish Chicken and Stuffing Casserole
Yield: 4 - 6
prep time: 15 Mincook time: 45 Mintotal time: 1 Hour
This is a fabulously tasty and easy bake. Just throw it together and pop it into the oven. I like to serve it with gravy, potatoes and vegetables on the side.
Ingredients
- 3 large chicken breast filets, poached in chicken stock and cooled (Reserve the stock)
- 1 medium loaf of sturdy stale white bread
- 1/2 cup (125g) of butter (1/2 cup)
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 stalks celery, washed, trimmed and chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp coarse black pepper
- 1/2 tsp celery seed
- 1/2 tsp each of dried parsley, crumbled sage, thyme and summer savory if you have it
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a large shallow casserole. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion and celery and cook over medium low heat until softened. Stir in the salt, pepper, celery seed and herbs. Set aside.
- Crumble the bread into a large bowl. Shred the chicken coarsely and add to the bread. Pour the butter mixture over all and toss together. Add only enough leftover stock so that your mixture is not totally dry. You don't want it soggy.
- Pile into the prepared baking dish. Cover tightly with greased foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Delicious!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
We had the last of the New Years Ham which needed using up today. I contemplated doing scalloped potatoes with ham, but my father doesn't really like scalloped potatoes. (I know! I don't understand it either!)
I have a cookbook entitled The weeknight Dinner Cookbook, by Mary Younkin. It is filled with simple, family friendly recipes. I spied a delicious sounding recipe in it for a Potato and Ham soup that is cooked in the slow cooker, and so I decided to adapt it for my own use.
First of all the original recipe was far too large. It made 10 to 12 servings. We are only four and we did not want to be eating soup forever.
Plus this is a creamy soup and has potatoes in it. I did not think it would lend itself well to freezing. One, potatoes like his don't really freeze well, and two, neither do soups or sauces containing cream. Plus none of us really like the texture of ham after it has been frozen.
It was fairly easy to cut the quantities in half for this. I did keep the cook times the same.Mary did not peel her potatoes for this.
My sister felt that it would probably bother my father and Dan if we left the peels on the potato. She didn't want a soup with potato skins floating around in it. Fair enough. I peeled the potatoes.
I did not have double cream or half and half to use, so I used coffee cream. It has been my experience in the past that you can also use undiluted evaporated milk in the place of both. It works well and you can't really taste that it is canned milk.
Personally, I would have loved to add a can of creamed corn to this. But, nobody (ie. Dan and dad) likes creamed corn. I don't understand that either because I could just eat it from the can with a spoon.
Oh how I am looking forward to corn season next summer! I can't wait! The whole time I was in the UK I longed for a good feed of fresh corn on the cob. The British don't really do corn on the cob well.
For one thing, it is such a damp climate that it doesn't really grow well there. Most of their corn is imported from South America, Africa and the continent. Right away anyone who knows corn will tell you that is a bad idea.
Corn should be eaten as soon as possible after it is picked. The longer you wait to eat it, the more the starch develops in the corn. Can you imagine the time taken to pick it and ship it from those foreign countries? I know!
Secondly, you should never peel corn until you are ready to cook it. Husked corn also stars to degenerate rapidly. I never saw corn un-husked in the grocery shops there. Never. Now you know why I am looking forward to corn on the season this year!
But I digress, and none of that has anything to do with this soup recipe, except to say that I think a can of creamed corn would go nicely in it.
I choose to call it a chowder myself, rather than a soup. A soup which is creamy and has a high potato content to me, is a chowder. Soup or chowder, however you choose to name it, this is one delicious pot of flavours.
It is thick and creamy. This is partially due to the use of the cream, and partially due to the fact that some of the soup gets pureed and stirred back into the soup.
I used my stick blender that Jan bought me for the first time and it worked beautifully. (Thank you Jan!!) Its a Kitchen-Aid and worked a charm. You can also use a regular blender to do this.
If you do need to use a regular blender for this, proceed with caution. Hot liquids and blenders can be very volatile combinations.
The heat from the liquid builds up in the blender and can blow the lid right off. Been there, done that. Not only can you receive some really bad burns from this, but you will be cleaning soup off your ceiling for weeks and months to come. Trust me.
The best way to do puree hot things in a blender is to remove the little cup from the centre of the lid and work in small quantities. Also cover the lid with a tea towel to help protect your hands and hold the lid firmly in place.
I speak thusly from experience, having blown the lid off a blender early on in my cooking journey. Thankfully I only had a mess to clean up and didn't burn myself. Its so much easier and safer to use a stick blender in my humble opinion.
Pureeing some of the liquid with some of the potatoes and ham really helps to thicken this soup. It gives it a nice creamy consistency.
Do be judicious when adding salt. Ham is a very salty ingredient and so you really don't want to be over-doing the salt!
This is a hearty soup with beautiful flavours. You get the creaminess from the cream. Saltyness from the ham. Herbiness from the use of thyme and rosemary, and then lets not forget the garlic and the onion. Both are not only flavourful but very aromatic as well.
Altogether we declared this a lovely soup and one we would make again. Not just because it was delicious, but also because it was very easy to make.
It is delicious served simply with crisp crackers, but those of you who are heartier eaters you may want to serve it with rolls, or hot buttered toast. Also baking powder biscuits would go down really well. I would be tempted also to serve some grated cheese to sprinkle on top.
No matter, this recipe makes for one very tasty hot bowl of soup! Yum yum!!
Slow Cooker Potato & Ham Chowder
Yield: 4
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 6 Hourtotal time: 6 H & 10 M
This delicious creamy soup is perfect for a cold winter's day and a great way to use up the last of your New Year's Ham.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
- 1/2 pound cooked ham, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch chunks (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 3 cups (720ml) chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1/4 tsp ground rosemary
- salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup (120ml) half and half or heavy cream
Optional Toppings:
- minced chives
- finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Instructions
- Combine the potatoes, ham, onion, garlic, chicken stock, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary in a slow cooker. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on high (3 to 4 hours) or low (6 - 8 hours.)
- When the potatoes are fork tender, scoop out about 2 cups (480g) of the potatoes and ham into a blender, or a tall measuring cup. Blitz until smooth and creamy in the blender, or with a stick blender in the cup.
- Return the blended mixture to the slow cooker along with the cream. Reduce to low and keep warm for up to one hour.
- Scoop into heated bowls to serve, along with suggested garnishes as desired.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
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