WI Life February 2015 33

The Victoria sandwich is a WI icon Let themand the story of this eatsimple sponge reflects a century of rapid change

Words: ARY GWYNN, author of The WI Cookbook: The First 100 years Pictures: ARIE-LOU AVERY Home economist: LINDY WILDSITH

CAKEs there a more The NFWI requested suggestions for a national song. In July  , three years after potent symbol ‘national Institute song’ in  . This led the magazine was first published, a short note of the WI than to much debate on the letters page of the WI in the household tips column finds the first the Victoria magazine, Home & Country. Jerusalem was of three short recipes: ‘Sponge Sandwich - sandwich? chosen for its call for a better future and sung oz. butter or Margarine, ¼ lb of sugar. Beat Buttery and light, filled for the first time by delegates at the ‡th AGM up to a cream. Add eggs well beaten then with a layer of raspberry in  ‹. The magazine said ‘the delegates stir in ¼ lb flour, teaspoonfuls of baking jam and with its golden sing hopefully of the New Jerusalem which powder and  tablespoonful of milk. Bake ARY GWYNN ARY Isurface dusted with a every institute member is helping to build’. in a quick oven for a quarter of an hour.’ It’s fine coating of caster sugar, its very simplicity The development of the Victoria sandwich recognisably the ancestor of the recipe we denotes the challenge it presents to bakers reflects the story of the WI as it progressed use today. and oven manufacturers. from its origins in the dark days of the First The original Victoria sponge goes back to Back in , were the earliest members World War to today’s modern organisation. the first years of the young Queen’s reign. She making sponges before singing Jerusalem at The earliest recipe for a sponge sandwich was known for her sweet tooth and gave her WI gatherings? It seems not. The truth is far (no royal connection) appeared in Home & name to all kinds of foods – from the popular more complex. Country the same year as the debate over a plum variety to a type of rhubarb, a pea and

FEB/COOKERY Victoria Sandwich with coupon.indd 3 16/01/2015 09:22 a sweet suet pudding made with apples, dried Recipes. It contains three sandwich cakes and cherries and apricot jam. The first recipe an orange cake that is in essence the classic to appear in print for ‘Victoria Sandwiches’ Victoria cake recipe we use today. was in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Surprisingly, neither Victoria sponge Management, 
. Her recipe is based on nor sandwich are name-checked in any four eggs with their weight in ‘pounded sugar, WI publication until Ž—•. As butter and butter and flour’. meat finally came off the ration books in The mixture contained no raising agent but the summer of Ž—ƒ, the nation faced a is beaten for  minutes to add air before it is new worry. Many women, drafted to work cooked in a Yorkshire pudding tin. The cake is in factories in support of the war effort, then split, spread with ‘nice preserve’ and cut had lost the skills that their mothers and into long ‘finger pieces’. grandmothers took for granted. Years of Baking had been transformed by the arrival restrictions on ingredients such as fat, flour, of refined white flour and sugar, along with eggs and butter meant basic recipes such as the invention of baking powder in the ƒs. crumble, batters and cakes were no longer It allowed the making of rich, buttery cakes commonplace. with a fine crumb, ideal for serving with that The WI leapt to fill the gap. In Ž—ƒ, a other sign of luxury, leaf tea, made in a silver —ƒ-page booklet entitled County Fare was pot and served in the finest bone china. handed out from the WI stand at The Ideal Victoria and her ladies-in-waiting enjoyed Home Exhibition with over ™ recipes for this new meal as the perfect filler for the regional specialities, such as Guernsey Gache long gap between luncheon and dinner – and and Monmouth Pudding, alongside detailed afternoon tea parties became all the rage. leaflets on breadmaking and pastry skills.

is protection of our culinary heritage has been one of the most vital functions of the WI The social side of meetings was very Mrs Beeton’s classic recipe for a Victoria important in the ‡th Century for the sandwich once more appeared in print in members of the newly established WI. A Mrs the pages of The Constance Spry Cookbook Nugent Harris wrote in Home & Country in (Ž—
) and a year later a chocolate version ŽŽ that ‘members of an Institute get to appeared in Norfolk Federation’s Ž—• know each other best when they meet for cookbook More Good Recipes. Finally, a year social intercourse’. In her view, the simplest later, the classic Standard Victoria Sandwich way to achieve that is with ‘the Institute tea’. makes its first appearance on page
ƒ of The She reminds readers that ‘tea-time should Berkshire Federation Cookery Book. be the informal part of the meeting, when a WI members have been cooking it ever real neighbourly chat can be enjoyed’. since. As a competition cake, it is the ultimate As ingredients such as sugar, eggs and test for bakers – the simple ingredients and butter, restricted by war, began to come back method allow no hiding place for sloppy into the shops members started to bake and techniques or poor quality ingredients. It’s preserve once more, and also educate those also used to check how new ovens perform. whose domestic skills might be lacking. Detailed guidelines for making the Victoria Federation news of those early years sandwich for competition are set out in the includes details of ‘guessing the weight of the NFWI Education Committee’s handbook On cake’ and bottling and preserving fruit. with the Show: n This desire to educate and preserve May be baked in one or two tins n essential skills and traditions saw local No cooling rack marks on top or bottom federations produce their own cookery books surface n Do you know of an earlier in the inter-war years. These recorded all Traditional lling raspberry jam, example of the WI Victoria kinds of regional recipes and dishes. This sucient and evenly spread n protection of our culinary heritage has been Light sprinkling of caster sugar on top Sandwich? If you have a n seen as one of the most vital functions of the Pale golden colour, evenly baked published recipe dated before n WI. The celebrated food writer Elizabeth Texture ne, even 1957, please email wilife@ n David, in her Ž•• English Bread and Yeast Flavour delicate, characteristic, nfwi.org.uk with the subject Cookery, acknowledged that ‘recipes have with no strong avour predominating line ‘Victoria Sandwich’, been preserved, recorded and published… A cup of tea and a slice of cake are just tweet @WILifeƒagazine owing to the initiative of the ladies of the as integral to the success of many WI using #VictoriaSandwich or Women’s Institute’. meetings today as in ŽŽ. Although Mrs Amongst the many recipes for cakes of Nugent Harris might be taken aback by write to: ‘Victoria Sandwich’, all styles that appear in WI publications are ‡st Century WIs meeting in cocktail bars, WI Life, 104 New King’s countless variations on sponges. In Ž—, let alone sharing their baking successes or Road, London, SW6 4LY Yorkshire Federation proudly published the disasters on Facebook, a good cake is still ‡—th edition of its cookbook, Seven Hundred appreciated by members old and new.

FEB/COOKERY Victoria Sandwich with coupon.indd 4 16/01/2015 09:23 VINTAGE RECIPES These recipes are from WI federation cookbooks. The original appears first, followed by an updated version. The first reference to Queen Victoria’s taste for sponge cake is in this recipe from Secrets of some Wiltshire Housewives, 1927. Gold and Silver cakes (These cakes are said to have been great favourites with Queen Victoria) Edwardian INGREDIENTS TO AKE THE SILVER CAKE Silver cake n 1/4lb butter 1 Beat the butter to a cream and add the n 1/4lb sugar. Then add the flour and whites of powdered sugar eggs in alternate spoonfuls. n 6oz finest 2 ix very well, add a teaspoonful of sifted flour essence of almonds, and some finely n whites of 5 powdered almonds. eggs, well beaten 3 Baking powder to be put in last. to a stiff froth TO AKE THE GOLD CAKE n large tsp Take the yolks of the 5 eggs, beat up baking powder thoroughly and make exactly the same as the silver cake, adding two (not one) teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Flavour with a glass of whisky, or add ½ teaspoonful of sal volatile. H Longden, ilton

Modern Silver cake akes one 18cm round cake Prep 20 minutes Cook 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS FOR BOTH CAKES Edwardian n 125g butter n 1 tsp baking powder n 125g caster sugar n 5 large egg whites Gold cake n ½ tsp almond essence n 2 tbsp ground almonds n 175g plain flour n 2–3 tbsp milk

1 Preheat the oven to 1800C/fan oven 1600C/gas mark 4. Cream the butter with the sugar until pale and light, then stir in the almond essence. 2 Sift the flour with the baking powder. Whisk the egg whites until holding peaks, then fold into the creamed mixture alternating with the flour, ground almonds and milk to give a soft-dropping consistency. 3 Spoon into a buttered and base-lined 18cm round sandwich cake tin. Level the surface. Bake for 30 minutes until firm and pale golden. Turn out and cool on a wire rack. Serve as it is, dusted with silver powder, or split and sandwich with lemon curd and whipped cream.

Modern Gold cake akes one 18cm round – or square – cake Prep 20 minutes Cook 30 – 40 minutes

To make the gold cake follow the silver cake recipe above but omit the almond essence and use 2tsp baking powder. Instead of adding the egg whites, beat in the yolks of 5 eggs after creaming the butter and sugar. Fold in the flour and baking powder with three to four tablespoons of whisky. Finish and cook as above. You can make this cake in a square 18cm tin as an alternative. Cool and serve plain, dusted with gold powder, or topped with whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

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1950s Chocolate Victoria sponge Modern Chocolate fairy cakes Taken from ore Good Recipes, 1957 by Norfolk I’ve chosen to turn the recipe into simple fairy cakes. akes 16. Federation. The Victoria sponge (not sandwich!) Prep 15 mins. Cook 18 – 20 minutes received its first name check in a WI publication. INGREDIENTS ETHOD INGREDIENTS ETHOD n 125g caster sugar 1 Preheat the oven to 1800C/fan oven 1600C/ n 6 oz self raising flour 1 Place margarine or butter n 125g butter gas mark 4. Arrange paper cases in bun tins. n ¼ lb fine sugar in a mixing bowl and cream n 1/2 tsp almond Cream the butter with the sugar and almond n 1 tbsp hot water well. Add well beaten eggs essence (you can use essence until pale and light. Add the eggs n 1 tsp almond essence and a little flour at a time to vanilla instead) a little at a time and a little flour to prevent n ¼ lb margarine or prevent curdling. Fold in other n 2 large eggs, beaten curdling. Sift the flour and cocoa and fold in, butter ingredients. n 175g self-raising flour adding the milk to give a soft consistency. n 2 large eggs 2 Place mixture in a greased n 1 tbsp cocoa powder 2 Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and n 1 tbsp chocolate tin (previously sprinkled with n 1–2 tbsp milk bake for 18 – 20 minutes until well risen and powder flour and sugar), and bake in ICING firm to touch. Cool on a wire rack. n Pinch of salt a moderate oven for 15 to 20 n 75g icing sugar, sifted 3 For the icing, melt the chocolate in a basin ICING minutes. n 90g plain chocolate set over hot water (don’t allow to boil). Stir n ¼ lb icing sugar 3 Sift icing sugar, add chocolate n 15g butter in the butter until melted, then add the icing n 1 to 2 tbsps milk powder and milk and mix well. n chocolate flakes sugar to give a smooth shiny icing. Dip the n 1 tbsp chocolate Spread on top of the cake. or chocolate coated cakes in the icing to coat. Put a chocolate powder rs Stone, Kenninghall almonds to decorate flake or almond on top and leave to set.

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1970s Chocolate and Modern Chocolate and peppermint cake peppermint cake ake this cake as colourful and fun as possible for a real taste of the 1970s. From the Derbyshire Federation Recipe Book akes one 20cm cake. Prep 15 mins. Cook 25 mins 1974. This is a Victoria sandwich in all INGREDIENTS ETHOD but name – the method and ingredients all n 175g softened 1 Preheat the oven to 1800C/fan oven, 1600F/ gas mark 4. fit the classic model. butter or soft Grease and then base-line two 20cm sandwich tins with margarine baking parchment. INGREDIENTS ETHOD n 175g caster sugar 2 Cream the butter and sugar together until very pale and n 6 oz soft 1 ix main ingredients together n 3 large eggs fluffy. Beat the eggs then gradually add to the mixture a margarine for two minutes. Divide in half. n 175g self tablespoon at a time, beating well with each addition. n 6oz sugar 2 To one half add green raising flour 3 Sieve the flour and gently fold into the mixture to give a n 6 oz self colouring and two or three n 1 tsp baking soft dropping consistency. Divide the mixture in half. ix the raising flour drops of peppermint essence. powder cocoa to a paste with a tablespoon of boiling water and fold it n 1 tbsp 3 To the other half add one tbsp n 1 tbsp cocoa into one half, then add mint extract and green colouring to the cocoa cocoa with one tbsp hot water. n 2 -3 drops other to give quite a good strong colour. Put the mint mixture n 3 eggs 4 In two sandwich tins (seven peppermint into one tin, the chocolate into the other, and level the surface, n 1 ½ level or eight inches) pipe alternate extract or to taste making a slight hollow in the centre to allow the cakes to rise. tsps baking rings of the two colours or just n green food 4 Bake for 25 – 30 minutes on the same shelf in the oven until powder spoon into the tins. colouring well risen. The cakes should have shrunk from the sides of the n Green 5 Bake for approximately 25 FOR THE CHOCOLATE tin and spring back when touched. Remove from the tins. colouring minutes 3500F. Regulo 4 a BUTTERCREA: Turn onto a wire rack to cool. n Essence of third of the way down the oven. n 40g butter, softened 5 For the buttercream, beat the butter until softened, then peppermint 6 Allow to cool and decorate n 85g icing sugar, beat in the icing sugar and cocoa. Continue beating until with chocolate butter icing sifted pale and fluffy. When the cakes are cold, sandwich with and vermicelli or green and n 1 tbsp cocoa, sifted chocolate butter icing. brown icing. FOR THE CHOCOLATE 6 For the glacé icing, mix the icing sugar and cocoa and GLACÉ ICING: add a tablespoon or so of hot water to give a coating n 125g icing sugar consistency. Pour over the top of the cake and spread to the n 1 tbsp cocoa edges. Decorate with chocolate curls or a crumbled mint n chocolate curls chocolate bar or make two-tone butter icing and a green to decorate and chocolate glacé icing for a 1970s effect.

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