Duke of Cambridge Tart and other Victorian Jubilee Recipes (5)

            
     The Duke of Cambridge and his Tart, Afternoon Tea and the Sinking Feeling

   Queen Victoria and Prince Albert  liked simple food.Their noon time lunches became increasingly meagre often consisting of a watery fish soup which was all that Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting  were offered. Anna ,Duchess of Bedford and lady-in -waiting complained that she suffered from  a "sinking feeling" by 4 pm and had a sneaky  pot of tea  and bread and butter in her dressing room .     
At home in Belvoir Castle the Duchess started a craze for tea parties sending out invitations for tea in the afternoon at 5 pm. This practice extended to London, was adopted by Queen Victoria and by 1855 some very formal tea parties were taking place.

Prince Albert died in 1861.Heartbroken, Victoria retreated to Osborne House and it was at this time that the famous Victoria Sandwich was named after her.    




Victoria Sandwich

Recipe

• 4 large eggs
• 225g (8 oz)caster sugar
• 225 g (8 oz)self raising flour
• 225g(8 oz)soft butter or margarine
• 2 tsp baking powder

for serving : good quality raspberry or apricot jam

                      butter cream or whipped double cream

For an outdoor party butter cream is safer

Method:

• Take the eggs and fat out of the fridge for at least an hour before you make the cake
• Heat the oven ,350 F,180C,Gas4
• Line the base of 2 x 8inch sandwich tins with silicon paper
• Put all the cake ingredients in to a large mixing bowl and use a hand mixer or Kenwood K beater  to beat everything to a soft creamy consistency that will drop off a spoon easily.
• Divide between the 2 tins
• Bake the cakes for 25 minutes
• When the cakes are light golden and firm to touch take them out a cool for a few minutes on a wire rack
• Run a blunt ended knife around the edge of the cakes to loosen them and turn out onto the rack, avoiding wire marks on the upper cake by turning it onto a tea towel first ,( this is not essential)
• When the cakes are completely cool assemble the cake on a plate with cream and jam.
• Finish with a dusting of caster sugar

Butter Cream

        3 oz butter

        6 oz icing sugar

        1 drop vanilla essence

        1 tablespoon milk

Method

Put all the ingredients into a medium sized bowl and beat well until all the ingredients are blended and creamy, use as wanted.

The Royal Family have continued the practice of holding tea parties in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.If you are lucky enough get invited this is a wonderful excuse for ladies to buy a lovely hat and  for gentlemen to wear morning dress.

Battenburg Cake is another Victorian favourite believed to have been made in honour of the wedding of Queen Victoria's granddaughter to Prince Louis of Battenburg in 1884.

                                                         Battenburg Cake

This is essentially a Victoria Sandwich mixture divided in 2, one half is coloured pink with some food colouring and the 2 halves  cooked in a an oblong cake tin with a thick fold of non-stick aluminium foil to divide the mixtures.When the cakes are cool cut and arrange the colours as shown using warm apricot jam to glue them in position them cover the whole thing in an oblong of rolled out marzipan large enough the wrap around the cake with the seam underneath.

This cake can be time consuming and tricky, there are many good commercial ones on the market, Marks and Spencer's version is a nice one.

The name Battenburg later became changed by the family to Mountbatten as they thought it sounded too German after 2 wars had been fought with Germany.

Prince Philip , husband to Queen Elizabeth 2nd is a member of this family .

The Duke of Cambridge  (1819-1904) and his tart

The Duke of Cambridge was a grandson of George 3rd.He joined the army at the age of 9 years and remained a professional soldier for most of his life.He was a florid man with a huge moustache and after Prince Albert's death often stood in to escort Queen Victoria and  help her entertain foreign dignitaries.The title of Duke of Cambridge has now been given to Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton is now the Duchess of Cambridge.

Duke of Cambridge Tart

                                                              

Recipe

4-6oz shortcrust or sweet pastry-

                              (Supermarkets like Sainsbury, Tesco, Waitrose sell good ready to use pastry)

Filling

3 oz butter

3 oz sugar

4 oz raisins (or chopped candied mixed peel)

2 os chopped glace cherries

2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons rum or brandy

grated lemon rind

Method

• Pre heat the oven 190C or Gas5, 375F
• Line a flan ring or pie dish with the pastry.Leave in a cool place while you make the filling
• Put the  raisins/peel  into a small pan with enough water to cover. Bring to the boil then drain.Cool them
• Put the raisins, cherries and lemon rind into the pastry case
• Melt the butter and sugar in a small pan, bring to the boil
• Remove from the heat and beat in the egg yolks and brandy
• Pour over the raisins and cherries
• Bake in the pre heated oven until the pastry is brown and the filling golden, about 25-30 mins
• Serve warm or cool with cream or icecream

    

Note

This recipe can be made into individual small tarts.