& DRINK Taste of Downton that’s sure to make you Abbey
COOKING
INGREDIENTS
SERVES 8-10
225g butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
450g flour, plus more for the pan
Superfine sugar, for the pan 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon baking soda Pinch of salt
225g firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 can (1 lb/450 g) black treacle or blackstrap molasses
120ml milk
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch (23-cm) round springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper and generously butter the paper. Dust the bottom and sides of the pan with equal parts of flour and superfine sugar, tapping out the excess.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Whisk gently to blend.
Put the butter into a large bowl and beat until pale and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and continue to mix vigorously until incorporated. Add the treacle gradually and carefully and beat until incorporated. Add the flour mixture in three batches alternately with the milk in two batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing well after each addition. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes. (If the edges of the cake begin to darken before the centre of the cake is cooked, cover the pan loosely with parchment paper.) Remove from the oven and let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Loosen the edges of the cake from the edges with a blunt knife and unclasp the pan sides. Slide the cake onto a serving plate, peeling away the paper, and serve.
THE highlyanticipated Downton Abbey film is out this week and that means Mrs Patmore is back in the kitchen cooking for the entire household.
Esteemed author and leading food historian Annie Gray has been busy researching the meals included in the world of Downton Abbey and says aristocratic families in Edwardian Britain would often sit down to seven or nine courses which were sometimes broken up with a
sorbet halfway through.
Food plays a big part in the life of Downton Abbey and Annie’s new book – The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook – shows how the recipes can be adapted to modern kitchens with dishes from both upstairs and downstairs.
She says: “These are historic recipes, and they are Downton recipes, but they are also usable modern recipes.”
Annie says showpiece meat dishes like chicken stuffed with pistachios were a mainstay of the aristocratic table and could be decorated with the family crest cut out of truffles.
Meanwhile, the fare for the household staff was very different.
She says: “Beef stew is a true servants’ dish: cooked low and slow, hard to spoil, and filling for hungry bellies.
“It features several times on Downton, both as a dish in the servants’ hall and at the soup kitchen, where it is set up for starving and injured soldiers in the episodes set during the
Great War.
“The secret is to have a cut, such as brisket, that has some fat with it and that will benefit from long cooking. Beef was considered a symbol of Britishness, and a great deal of it was consumed both below and above stairs in country houses.”