Darina Allen: Sweet baking recipes I discovered in a secondhand cookbook

Cake with strawberries. Dark background.

I just love rummaging around in vintage and charity shops. You never know what you’ll come across. 

I often find nothing at all but occasionally unearth a treasure of no particular interest to anyone else. 

During a recent trawl through random books in a West Cork shop, I came across what for me is a little gem. A cookbook entitled Talking About Cakes with an Irish and Scottish Accent by Margaret Bates.

When I went to pay, the sweet lady at the till quipped… “Thought you’d have enough baking cookbooks by now!!”

From what I understand, Margaret Bates was vice principal of the Belfast College of Domestic Science in the 1960s and author of the Belfast Cookbook, Talking About Puddings and Talking About Cakes. 

The latter is definitely one of my all-time favourite baking books, I owned a paperback copy in the 1970s which somehow, I managed to mislay. 

It was chock-a-block with brilliant recipes. Every recipe was tested and retested, over and over again until Margaret was happy that she had perfected the very best version of each for her students and readers.

I bought this preloved, hardback copy, published in 1964, for the princely sum of €2 — how about that for a bargain?

Every recipe calls for margarine but as you know, I don’t do margarine, so I’ve substituted butter for margarine in every recipe.

Despite my best efforts, a deep dive into Google yielded little information about Margaret, perhaps some readers may be able to share some further details? 

Somehow, I understood that she also taught at Atholl Crescent in Edinburgh, but I haven’t been able to verify that.

The book looks really dated and old-fashioned, but don’t jump to conclusions, so many of the recipes are unusual and contemporary, with delicious combinations of texture and flavour.

Margaret has no less than 10 riffs on “good scone recipes” including coconut scones, dates scones, ginger and walnuts scones, Montréal scones. There is a whole chapter on coffee cakes, another on favourite chocolate cakes, and yet another on ginger confections. The art of making a feather-light sponge and super tender Victoria and Genoese sponges.

There are cakes for the store cupboard and featherlight pastries and curiosities like conversation cakes — “troublesome to make but delicious “, Scots currant bun, continues, English, rout biscuits, with five variations, Pitcaithley bannock, rich slim cakes.

Keep an eye out for the little paperback, ‘Talking about Cakes’, you may be able to find a copy on eBay. If you love baking, it’s really worth seeking out.

• All recipes are taken from Talking About Cakes — with an Irish and Scottish Accent by Margaret Bates

Margaret Bates' Strawberry Meringue Cake

Strawberry meringue cake is equally at home on the tea table or as a luscious pudding for a special occasion.

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• Cake:

• 50g butter

• 110g caster sugar

• 4 egg yolks

• 110g flour

• a little vanilla extract

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 5 tbsp milk

• Meringue:

• 4 egg whites

• 225g sugar

• 2 tbsp flaked almonds

• Filling:

• 1 punnet strawberries

• 225ml cream

• sugar if necessary

Method

1. Line the bottom of two 23cm cake tins with circles of greased paper.

2. To make the cake:

3. Cream the butter and the sugar together in a bowl and when light, beat in the egg yolks adding one at a time. Then add the flour, vanilla extract, baking powder alternately with the milk.

4. Divide this mixture between the two tins and spread evenly.

5. To make the meringue:

6. In the bowl of a food mixer, add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk until stiff. Gradually beat in the sugar.

7. Divide between the two cake tins and swirl attractively. Sprinkle one cake with the flaked almonds. Bake in a moderate oven at 180°C for approximately 45 minutes.

8. When cold, sandwich generously with a mixture of fruit and whipped cream. The cake sprinkled with almonds should be uppermost.

Margaret Bates' Chocolate Log Cake

A chocolatey, rich classic.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 50 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 60 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 2 eggs

• pinch of salt

• 75 caster sugar

• 50g flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 2 tbsp milk

• 40g cocoa

• a few drops of vanilla extract

• Chocolate Butter Icing

• 110g butter

• 175g icing sugar

• 50g melted chocolate

• a few drops of vanilla extract

Method

1. Separate the whites from the yolks. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk until stiff. Then gradually beat in the sugar and yolks adding each alternately and beating well between each addition. Continue to beat until the mixture is light and thick.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder onto the eggs and fold it in. Gently fold in the cocoa, milk and vanilla extract. Spread into a lined and greased Swiss-roll tin and bake in a hot oven 230°C for approximately 8-10 minutes. Turn out onto a piece of baking paper lightly dusted with caster sugar and roll up without any filling. Leave for a few minutes then carefully unroll.

3. To make the chocolate butter icing, melt the chocolate over a bowl of simmering water and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Cream the butter in a bowl. Add in the sieved icing sugar and beat until light and fluffy. When cool, fold in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract.

4. Spread over the cake when quite cold and roll up once more. Dust off any surplus flour. Then cover the cake with the remainder of the icing, creating some peaks to simulate the bark. Trim the ends. If wished, a diagonal wedge may be cut from one end of the cake before it is iced. This piece can be placed at the side of the roll to gauge an even more realistic appearance.

Margaret Bates' Peanut Biscuits

Especially for those who enjoy peanuts

Servings

15

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 31 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 1 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 110g butter

• 110g sugar

• 1 egg

• 150g peanuts

• 150g oat flakes

• 60g flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• a pinch of baking soda

• a pinch of salt

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl and gradually beat in the lightly whisked egg, the roughly chopped nuts and the dry ingredients.

2. Put small spoonfuls of the mixture on a greased tray. Flatten with a fork, making a criss-cross mark and bake at 190°C/gas mark 5 for approximately 20-30 minutes. Remove from the tray and cool on a wire rack.

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