History and Food

I am a history enthusiast.  I love to learn and explore where things come from and how they become apart of our culture. Some of my favorite tea foods have a back story so you will find I may try to incorporate a bit of interesting facts into my blogs when I try new recipes.

That was the reason why I chose to test-try the mini Victoria Sponge cakes from my last posting. Anna, the Duchess of Bedford, who was one of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, is credited for coming up with the concept of Afternoon Tea and for making one of the Queen’s favorite cakes that included a layer of jam.  It wasn’t until after Prince Albert died in 1861, this cake was renamed after Queen Victoria. Later, in 1874 the first known written recipe for Victoria Sandwiches (the other name for Victoria Sponge cake) was included in Isabella Beeton’s cookbook named, Mrs. Beeton’s Cookery and Household Management.

Unfortunately, I decided not to test try another batch of the mini cakes.  As interesting as the history of the Victoria Sponge cakes would have been to share at the upcoming fundraiser tea, I really believe this cake needs to be made properly as a full-size cake to truly appreciate the taste and texture.  My continued curiosity about mini jam tarts may have also pushed the sponge cake out of the running.

Jam Tarts

While France is thought to be the originator of tarts, England has always been known for its jam tarts.  However, it wasn’t until sugar became affordable through the West Indian trade that jam could be readily made.

There is a lot of butter in the crust recipe I selected to try.  The easiest method is to use a food processor to blend the mixture until it looks like breadcrumbs before adding cold water.

After refrigerating two round dough discs in plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes, I rolled the first disc out quite thinly.  The wells in my pan are very small and I was worried a thicker crust would expand too much as it baked.  I used two different size cutters to see which I preferred.

Because the dough required a lot of butter, there was no need to prepare the pan before adding the cut-out dough. I then pricked the bottoms with a fork a couple times and filled each dough cup with raspberry, strawberry and lemon curd.

The finished product exceeded my expectations.  While the crust didn’t have any sugar in it, it still complimented the intense flavors that came from the jam and curd.

After taste-testing the first batch of tarts, I decided I preferred the raspberry ones for the fundraiser tea.  I rolled out my second dough disc a few days later and used all raspberry jam.

These looked like little cups of raspberry goodness!

A jam tart goes perfectly with a cup of milky tea!

Banoffee Pie

But I still had to come up with a second mini dessert and I immediately remembered having Banoffee Pie for the first time at a friend’s birthday party.  I knew I wasn’t going to make full-size pies so I found a recipe from Cleobuttera for mini deconstructed individual “pies” in a cup.  This no-bake dessert would be a nice change from traditional cakes and sweet breads. 

After chilling the crushed digestive biscuits, sugar and melted butter crust at the bottom of the cups for at least 30 minutes, I added a layer of dulce de leche.  I had my store-bought favorite on hand that I didn’t bother making the toffee from sweetened condensed milk. My immediate need was to see whether this dessert would work for the fundraiser tea.

Originally, I thought I’d only use three banana slices in each cup, but decided it needed more to compliment the rich gooey layer underneath it.

Fresh cream with some grated Cadbury chocolate on top finished this really simple, but lovely dessert.

These little beauties needed to be stored in the fridge until my friend arrived to give them a taste test.

Perfect with tea!

Banoffee pie isn’t steeped in history.  This simple dessert was invented in East Sussex in 1971.  Nigel Mackenzie, the owner of The Hungry Monk Restaurant was trying to come up with a different version of an American recipe.  In the end, bananas, toffee and cream became the main ingredients.  It’s too bad you don’t see this in many restaurants today. I think it’s still a winning combination!

In fact, both of these desserts will be perfect for the upcoming tea. I can’t wait to see what the attendees think of them! Let me know if you give them a try!