The Great Historic Bake Off | Museums and Special Collections

Recipes

Think you can create the Quake, a 16th Century pudding so called because it should wobble like a jelly. It can be decorated with almonds to resemble a hedgehog.

A Wartime Buttery

Think you can make a buttery using margarine? In 1944 the Rowett Institute issued a Wartime Cookery Book which included a recipe for butteries made with margarine.

Fountain Cake

We'd love to see if you can make a cake with swans and a fountain using this showstopping design by the confectioner Joseph Bell in his book from 1817.

Albert Pud

Have a go at this classic Victorian steamed pudding from Matilda Lees Dods' recipe book. If you get royally stuck, we've included a link to a modern version.

Did you know in 2017 we held an exhibition all about cookery books in the collection? 'Cooking the Books' featured books from the 1800s, when a passion for food was fed by the dramatic increase in book publishing. The names of the cooks may not be familiar, but their books still sold like hot cakes. From acorn bread and viper broth to the truth behind blackbirds being baked into a pie, we hope you enjoy!

Cooking The Books

Baked in a Pie

'The Universal Cook', Collingwood & Woolams, 1792 [SB415Col]

Collingwood and Woollams, were the "Principal Cooks at the Crown & Anchor Tavern in the Strand". Their cookery book includes long-held favourites alongside recipes with more questionable ingredients.

'The Universal Cook', Collingwood & Woolams, 1792 [SB415Col]

Hare pie and lark stew may have fallen out of favour today, but at the time of writing, the authors considered their publication to represent the height of modern cuisine.

Dividing the catch of fulmar, St Kilda, George Washington Wilson, c1886 [MS3792/C7187]

A census of St Kilda from 1794 documents the islanders' unusual seabird diet. Each of the 90 inhabitants is recorded as eating an average 36 eggs and 18 birds per day!

Our Favourite Nursery Rhymes, London, 1856 [J Eng]

In the 16th century, a novelty dish, an 'entremets', was sometimes served between banquet courses to amuse or amaze diners. There are accounts of pies containing live birds, rabbits, frogs and dogs.

Showstoppers

A Treatise on Confectionary, Joseph Bell, 1817 [SB 6415 Bel]

Confectioners were well-regarded in the 18th and 19th centuries. Their skills were more refined than those of a mere cook or baker. Some were employed by the aristocracy, others ran their own shops.

A Treatise on Confectionary, Joseph Bell, 1817 [SB 6415 Bel]

Joseph Bell's book includes instructions on how to create showstopping cakes. Here's how to make a Fountain, in Gum Paste, on the Top of a Cake.

A Treatise on Confectionary, Joseph Bell, 1817 [SB 6415 Bel]

The average consumption of sugar in Britain rose from four pounds per head in 1700 to eighteen pounds in 1800, thirty-six pounds by 1850 and over one hundred pounds by the twentieth century.

The Italian Confectioner, William Alexis Jarrin, 1844 {SB 641.86 Jar]

William Jarrin was employed in Napoleon's household. Confectionary, he explains in the introduction to his book, is an art of pleasure and luxury which requires times of prosperity and abundance.

The Italian Confectioner, William Alexis Jarrin, 1844 [SB 641.86 Jar]

This practical guide to confectionary begins with two pull-out pages of diagrams showing sweet-making paraphernalia invented or perfected by the author himself.

Get into the baking spirit with these historical recipes and baking related collections!

Recipes

Baked in a Pie

'The Universal Cook', Collingwood & Woolams, 1792 [SB415Col]

'The Universal Cook', Collingwood & Woolams, 1792 [SB415Col]

Dividing the catch of fulmar, St Kilda, George Washington Wilson, c1886 [MS3792/C7187]

Our Favourite Nursery Rhymes, London, 1856 [J Eng]

Showstoppers

A Treatise on Confectionary, Joseph Bell, 1817 [SB 6415 Bel]

A Treatise on Confectionary, Joseph Bell, 1817 [SB 6415 Bel]

A Treatise on Confectionary, Joseph Bell, 1817 [SB 6415 Bel]

The Italian Confectioner, William Alexis Jarrin, 1844 {SB 641.86 Jar]

The Italian Confectioner, William Alexis Jarrin, 1844 [SB 641.86 Jar]