Cakes

Crunch (Betty Wilde)

4 oz Porridge oats
1 oz Fat
1 oz Sugar
1 flat dessertspoon Syrup

Melt fat, sugar & syrup in pan, stir in oats, pich salt & essence of almond or vanilla.
Press into greased tin & cook for 10-15 mins at 350^o. Cut while hot.

Yorkshire Curd Tart (Linda's Gran)

This can be made in a flan dish but is more authentic made in saucers.

8oz shortcrust pastry

8oz plain flour
pinch salt
2oz lard
2oz margarine
very cold water to mix

Rub fat into flour and salt into fat until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Add water gradually and mix with a knife until it just combines. Gather it
into a ball and knead very lightly. Stick it in the fridge while you make
the filling.

Filling

8oz curd cheese
2oz sugar
2oz currants
1 egg
1 and 1/2oz margarine (melted)
pinch of nutmeg

Mix together in a bowl.

Roll out the pastry and line the dish or saucers; put the filling into the
cases and sprinkle with grated nutmeg (I like rather a lot). Bake in a
preheated, hot oven (Gas mark 7) for about 15 to 20 minutes until brown on
top.

You can serve with whipped cream but it's nice on its own.

Currant buns (Linda's Gran)

Ingredients

4oz self raising flour
4oz margarine
4oz sugar
2 medium sized eggs
1oz currants

Cream margarine and sugar until it turns pale. Add eggs, one at a time and
beat. Add a little flour with each egg and the mixture won't curdle.
Add currants.

Put mixture straight into greased bun tins and bake in preheated oven (Gas
Mark 5) for about 20 minutes, until nice and brown.

These I remember as being extremely nice when cooked in a very hot Yorkshire
range. The currants on the outside should caramelize a little.

Date & Walnut Cake (Mrs. Goodall)

3 Cups self raising flour
1 Cup plain flour
2 Cups sugar
½ lb Stoned dates
¼ lb Walnuts
2 tblspns Bicarb of soda dissolved in 1½ cups milk
½ lb Butter

Rub butter into flour, add other ingredients & mix with milk.
Bake about 1½ hrs in a slow oven. (2 large loaves)

Parkin (Miss Bell)

½lb Oatmeal
½lb Flour
½lb Sugar
½ treacle
2oz Butter
2oz lard
3 tspns B.P.
3 tspns Ginger
1 Egg
Milk to mix

Rub fat into dry ingredients. Mix with egg & milk & melted treacle. Slow oven.

Yorkshire Parkin (Linda's Gran)

This is traditionally eaten on bonfire night.

Ingredients (can be doubled for a large cake)

4oz self raising flour
4oz fine or medium oatmeal
4oz soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4oz black treacle
2oz margarine
About 5 tablespoons of milk
1 beaten egg

Grease a suitable square tin (I use a roasting tin) and put some greaseproof
paper at the bottom so that it is easier to remove.

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Warm the treacle in a pan with the butter and milk

Add to the dry ingredients when melted with the egg and beat very well.

Pour into the tin and bake for about 50 minutes in a preheated oven at Gas
Mark 3 (not at the top or it will burn on top). Cut into squares when cold
and store in a tin. Keeps well.

Walnut Sponge Cake (Betty Wilde circa 1932)

2 eggs, 2 3/4 oz sugar, 2¼ oz flour.
Beat eggs & sugar over hot water until warm, then beat off water until cold. Take out whisk, sieve flour into the mixture & fold in as lightly as possible, DO NOT BEAT.
Turn into a tin which has been lined with greased paper. Bake in a moderate oven, about ½ hr.

Cut cake in two. Chop up 1½ oz of walnuts & mix in the same amount of icing sugar & just a little white of egg.
Spread mixture on cake & put it together. Place on a plate & cover with chocolate icing:-

2oz plain chocolate. Put into pan with a tblspn water & a small piece of butter. Let choc melt slowly & boil for a min or two. Stir into it 4oz sieved icing sugar & pour over cake straight away. Let it run down the sides. Decorate with halves of Walnuts.

Fruit Lardy Cakes (Peter Denton)

6 oz flour, 1 oz finely chopped nuts, Pinch of salt, 1 oz white sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ egg, 2 oz lard, 1 oz currants raisins or sultanas, Milk to mix

Mix together flour, salt and baking powder, sift well and rub in
one and a half ounces of lard. Add the well beaten egg and mix
to a soft dough with milk. Knead it for a minute or two. Then
roll it in piece. Warm the remaining lard and brush the dough
over with it, sprinkle with the fruit, nuts (any kind of nuts may
be used ) and the sugar. Roll up the dough, then cut into pieces
across the roll. Pack them closely together on a greased baking
tin, a cot end uppermost, and bake in a hot oven for about half
an hour. 425 deg F