Aunt Kate’s Kitchen: Two recipes from the 1930s to spice up your baking skills in 2020

Take advantage of spices such as cinnamon and allspice and make these delicious bakes.

Spices in baking, such as cinnamon and allspice, are a great way to make a traditional baking recipe into something suitable for the winter. They’re also great for the festive season, too.

Aunt Kate, the “original domestic goddess” who wrote recipes for the People’s Journal and the People’s Friend from the 1880s to the 1960s, also had her own recipe book the Baking Book 1933, which is where the recipes below are from.

So, take a look at the recipes below and learn how to make a delicious spiced American tart with apples and spiced sandwich cake.

For more inspiration from Aunt Kate, take a look at our previous recipes here.

Spiced American tart

Ingredients

• ½ lb (approx 225g) apples
• 1 lemon rind
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 oz (approx 28g) almonds
• ¼ lb (approx 115g) sultanas
• 2½ gills (approx 355ml) cold water
• Mixed spice
• 2 dessertspoonfuls granulated sugar
• Short crust

Method

1. Wash the sultanas and soak them in two gills of water for 30 minutes. Then, pour them into a saucepan, add the sugar and a good pinch of mixed spice and stew them gently for two minutes. Then set the pan aside.
2. Mix the cornflour to a smooth paste with half a gill of water. Stir the syrup from the sultanas onto it (but not the sultanas themselves).
3. Turn them into a pan and boil for a few minutes.
4. Draw the pan aside, add the sultanas, grated lemon rind, chopped almonds, and peeled and grated apple. Mix all together and leave to cool.
5. Roll out the pastry and line a sandwich tin with it. Pour in the mixture, cover with a lid of pastry and bake for 20 minutes in a hot oven.
6. When cooled, decorate with some icing and carmine.

Spiced sandwich cake

Ingredients

• ½ cup (approx 113g) butter
• 2 eggs
• 2½ cups (approx 320g) flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups (approx 256g) brown sugar
• 1 cup (approx 128g) sour milk
• 1 tsp soda
• 1 tsp allspice
• ½ tsp cloves
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Method

1. Cream the butter and add the sugar gradually while creaming, taking care to smooth away all the lumps.
2. Add the well-beaten eggs and mix thoroughly. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the mixture alternately with the milk.
3. Pour the mixture into greased and floured sandwich tins, and bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.
4. When cold, put the layers together with cream or jam.

More in this series…