Old-fashioned baking

This month’s baking club theme was old-fashioned baking. Out came the worn old cookbooks – The Aunt Daisy cookbook (ours is a 2009 reprint of the 1968 edition, but two people baked from their 1947 editions: The Aunt Daisy cookbook with household hints), early editions of Edmonds sure to rise cookery books (again, ours is a newer edition), and handwritten recipes in notebooks of all sizes.

To me, the most intriguing recipe this month was for “Cheese Cakes” – not at all like cheesecake as it’s known now, and containing no cheese or cream cheese whatsoever! Instead, they consist of a layer of pastry, a dollop of jam, and a spongey cake mixture, topped with another little scrap of pastry. They are delicious! We’ve found them online called “old-fashioned cheese cakes” and “Welsh cheesecakes”. It’s possible that they were originally made with cheese curds rather than jam, which might have given them their unexpected name.

Have a hunt through your (or your parents’ or grandparents’) old cookbooks and mix up an old favourite this month. If you don’t have any lying around, try these from our collection:

• Ladies, a plate: traditional home baking by Alexa Johnston
• Good old-fashioned teatime baking by Jane Pettigrew
• Vintage tea party by Carolyn Caldicott

16 August 2022

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