Crêpes au Mocha

These are from a Robert Carrier Cookery Card, I think from the seventies. They’re one of the least vile looking candidates in this pack of dessert recipes, and looked to me to be like an easy version of brandy snaps. I decided from the beginning to not bother with the poached pear garnish because I am very very lazy and don’t really like hot fruit much. Here’s the recipe:

 

Uncooked Cake

This is another from Cassell’s Country Cookbooks – The Cotswolds (1975). Undeterred by the complete failure that was the Savoury Omelette I decided to make a cake from this book. It’s very similar to a cake that I used to make as a child which I remember being called Kunzle Cake, and I although I’ve come across this type of cake as an adult, I’ve never heard anyone else call it a Kunzle Cake. Kunzle cakes do seem to be a thing, but what you see on that site is a whole other type of cake. God only knows what was going on there. Anyhow, in my head, this type of cake is called a Kunzle cake, and I used to make them a lot. They were pretty much my favourite foodstuff as a child – really easy to make, no cooking required, simple ingredients, and tasty. Very tasty.

Linzertorte

Guest Eurovision blog from Zakia follows:

I took on the Austrian cake Linzertorte which I was reliably informed by Alix would be “simple to make but look impressive”. That’s an aspiration to live by, which made me keen to try it out. It’s apparently the oldest cake recipe in the world, dating from 1693, and became internationally known from the 19^th century. This is one of the Marguerite Patten 1970s recipe cards.

Chocolate-Cheese Fudge Cake

Back in April, you might remember Alix and I hijacked Chris and Vicky’s bbq with a vintage bake-off. I took along this lemon butter cake which turned out going down well. However, I didn’t feel confident whilst the cake was cooling so I made a second cake – three columns along from the other one so another from “Female Cookbook 1978”.

INGREDIENTS
125g (4oz) butter
125g (4oz) processed cream cheese
1 cup castor sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts
85g (2.5oz) Van Houten cocoa
300g self raising flour
0.25 tsp bicarbonate of sofa
0.25 tsp salt
1 cup sour milk
whipped cream

Chequerboard Cake

This recipes comes from a box of recipe cards I got from a charity shop in Camden for £3 called Alison Burt’s Super Saving Cookery Cards, published by Hamlyn in 1975. I was in two minds about buying them as I’d been at the car boot previously and had a lot to carry home already. But, heck, I’m glad I made the effort, as they’re kind of amazing. It’s a collection of around 200 cards, divided into categories like Budget Entertaining, Oriental Cookery, Scones and Teabreads, Ice Cream Desserts. The recipes are mainly quite sensible but some of them are wonderfully tacky in a vaguely Abigail’s Party way (Kipper Pizza, anyone?), and all of them are depicted on the front of the recipe card with a picture, occasionally featuring some odd set dressing (Dutch macaroons are displayed in tiny ceramic clogs and arranged around a windmill). I haven’t found much online about Alison Burt – Alibris have a few cookery titles by someone of the same name, looks like she did a few cookery titles. There’s enough intriguing recipes in this box to keep anyone going for a lifetime, but I decided to make something from the Special Cakes section: