The Language of Cake

[lukepinkhandbag]

Am just pondering if a cream horn might be taken the wrong way..

Phnaa Phnaa!!
Oooh nooo missus !!

 

[Arch]

As an aside from the topic, and in a desparate attempt to divert from cream horns, I can tell the story of my Mum and vanilla slices. It wasn't until some time after the war that Mum realised that a vanilla slice was meant to be a nice thing to eat. During the war, an aunt of hers had devised a ration-friendly substitute. Birds Custard made thick enough to cut into blocks, sandwiched between cream crackers...

 

[bauldbairn]

As an aside from the topic, and in a desparate attempt to divert from cream horns, I can tell the story of my Mum and vanilla slices. It wasn't until some time after the war that Mum realised that a vanilla slice was meant to be a nice thing to eat. During the war, an aunt of hers had devised a ration-friendly substitute. Birds Custard made thick enough to cut into blocks, sandwiched between cream crackers...

mmm........vanilla slice.............or cream slice...............(not crackers and block of Birds custard......nice story though Arch!)

 

[snakehips]

Birds Custard made thick enough to cut into blocks, sandwiched between cream crackers...

Sounds OK to me , don't knock it 'til you've tried it !

Which reminds me , I still have three Morrison's custard filled doughnuts left. Coffee anyone ?

Cake , don't you just love it ....

 

[XmisterIS]

Drool .....

Can you imagine having that as a wedding cake? People would be beating each other out of the way to get a slice!

 

[Speck]

Derbyshire Oatcakes, moere savoury than sweet or put another way more blunt than diplomatic.

 

[Speck]

Eccles cakes for an odd sense of humour?

Or Chorley cakes with a dryer sense of humour

 

[Speck]

Yummy, we used to have them for breakfast. I haven't had one for years.

I bring a couple of dozen back with me when I visit buxton and freeze them. Had one on Sunday with egg, bacon, black pudding and sausages.

 

[Apeman]

Homemade apple tart or apple cake with custard for sheer contentment!

 

[HelenD123]

Homemade apple tart or apple cake with custard for sheer contentment!

Homemade apple pie with cheese - you're northern!

 

[Arch]

I bring a couple of dozen back with me when I visit buxton and freeze them. Had one on Sunday with egg, bacon, black pudding and sausages.

Are they like the Staffordshire variety? (eg, sort of oatmeal pancakes). You can get them in Tesco... They are very good with a fry up...

 

[Speck]

Are they like the Staffordshire variety? (eg, sort of oatmeal pancakes). You can get them in Tesco... They are very good with a fry up...

Very similar, just slightly thicker and larger diameter. They used to sell the Staffordshire oatcakes at Sainsbury's in Frome but they weren't as nice as the Derbyshire one's. Buxton is only 18 miles from Buxton so one is probably a copy of the other and the recipe has changed over the years.

Here you go:
Derbyshire Oatcakes

1 lb Fine oatmeal
1 lb Flour
1 oz Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2½ pt Warm water

Mix the oatmeal, flour and salt in a warm bowl. Cream the yeast with the sugar and add ½ pint of the warm water. Pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and add the rest of the water, mixing slowly until a thin batter is formed. Set aside in a warm place until well risen, about 30 minutes. Grease a large frying pan and heat. Pour cupfuls of the batter on to the hot pan and cook like thick pancakes for 4-5 minutes on each side. The oatcakes will keep for 2-3 days. Serve warmed up in a frying pan with bacon and eggs or with lemon juice and sugar or toasted with cheese or golden syrup. Makes 4 servings.

 

[Speck]

That's great, speck. I have a question though - when you say fine oatmeal, do you mean really fine (like flour) or just normal oatmeal ground up a bit. I remember my mum used to get bags of it from the Co-op to make oatcakes, but I can't for the life of me remember the texture. We can only get the normal stuff here (like for porridge) but I can grind it OK.

I would think you need the finer stuff Mort, you could blitz it in a processor or grind it down with a mortar and pestle. I will have a look next time I'm in Sainsbury's.

Did you used to get tins of broken biscuits from your Coop?

 

[XmisterIS]

Very similar, just slightly thicker and larger diameter. They used to sell the Staffordshire oatcakes at Sainsbury's in Frome but they weren't as nice as the Derbyshire one's. Buxton is only 18 miles from Buxton so one is probably a copy of the other and the recipe has changed over the years.

Here you go:
Derbyshire Oatcakes

1 lb Fine oatmeal
1 lb Flour
1 oz Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2½ pt Warm water

Mix the oatmeal, flour and salt in a warm bowl. Cream the yeast with the sugar and add ½ pint of the warm water. Pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and add the rest of the water, mixing slowly until a thin batter is formed. Set aside in a warm place until well risen, about 30 minutes. Grease a large frying pan and heat. Pour cupfuls of the batter on to the hot pan and cook like thick pancakes for 4-5 minutes on each side. The oatcakes will keep for 2-3 days. Serve warmed up in a frying pan with bacon and eggs or with lemon juice and sugar or toasted with cheese or golden syrup. Makes 4 servings.

That sounds like a damn fine recipe and one which I am definitely going to have a try at making!

The other recipe that I love is for shortbread - so simple to make but incredibly nice. My favorite biscuit by far!

Now there's another question - what exactly is shortbread? They say that the difference between a biscuit and a cake is that a biscuit goes soft when it goes stale, whereas a cake goes hard.

In my experience, shortbread starts out hard and stays hard even when it's stale!

So it's neither biscuit nor cake. And it definitely isn't bread!

 

[Arch]

Very similar, just slightly thicker and larger diameter. They used to sell the Staffordshire oatcakes at Sainsbury's in Frome but they weren't as nice as the Derbyshire one's. Buxton is only 18 miles from Buxton so one is probably a copy of the other and the recipe has changed over the years.

Here you go:
Derbyshire Oatcakes

1 lb Fine oatmeal
1 lb Flour
1 oz Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2½ pt Warm water

Mix the oatmeal, flour and salt in a warm bowl. Cream the yeast with the sugar and add ½ pint of the warm water. Pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and add the rest of the water, mixing slowly until a thin batter is formed. Set aside in a warm place until well risen, about 30 minutes. Grease a large frying pan and heat. Pour cupfuls of the batter on to the hot pan and cook like thick pancakes for 4-5 minutes on each side. The oatcakes will keep for 2-3 days. Serve warmed up in a frying pan with bacon and eggs or with lemon juice and sugar or toasted with cheese or golden syrup. Makes 4 servings.

That Buxton's a big place then! 18 miles across!:?:

Cheers for the recipe, I may well use that, and send it to my Mum, she really likes the Staffordshire ones, and can't get them locally - she sometimes stocks up at the York Tesco when she's here. She uses them as a base for a fry up, or (more likely, as she's got a very good diet), to wrap up savory fillings, like cheese, or spinach and ricotta, a sort of Staffordshire canneloni...


Interesting point about shortbread. It's a biscuit, surely?