christmas fete cake stall - dickensian theme HELP!

CLARABEL

Hi there

I am running a cake stall at my schol's chrismas fete in 2 weeks, and the theme is dickensian christmas:eek: , please could the well read among us help me out?:T

I need

1 ) easy recipes ( currently got gingerbread and crispy cakes as definites)

2) ideas for names of cakes etc referring to dickens characters

3) wrapping ideas

I'm tring to make maximum profit, so I want everything to look good, but obivously wihout it costing me a fortune! I also want to tell the kids in my class what to cook and bring.

I'm really not educate din dickens, so nay help here will be really appreciated!
thanks

clara..:A

mirandamayhem

peppermint creams are very victorian aren't they?
http://thefoody.com/sweets/peppermintcreams.html

mirandamayhem

don't know if this is any good either
http://www.victorian-via-von.com/victorianchristmas/xmasrecipes.htm

lightisfading

wrapping wise how about just greaseproof paper and string tied up like a parcel? you could wrap it this way as they paid for it, or maybe have a pile of pre-wrapped cakes with one un-wrapped one alongside for them to see. might look quite rustic and old fashioned

i know its not cakes but how about selling candy canes? im sure these are quite dickensian, and you can usually get a box of 12 or more in poundshops/home bargains etc, then maybe sell on for 20-30p?

shimmigirl

not sure if this is too tenuous but American like biscuit things called smores
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S'more

now you could make these with shortbread / hobnobs or my favourite choccy digestives
(which we used at guide camp)

and call the please sir could I have smores (oliver twist)

shimmigirl

fagins flapjacks

scrooges shortbread (or scrooges millionaires shortbread)

a victoria sponge??

two cities tiffin ( a kind of chocolate refrigerator cake with cherries, biscuits, marshallows in it)

martin chuzzlewit or marleys mince pies

kethry

I don't know if this site might help - some victorian designs and recipes on there.

Mom gave me "Mrs Beeton's Christmas Book" last year for christmas. few suggestions from this:

• Christmas pudding - there's a great recipe on my blog, here. (not Mrs Beeton but i think its better than hers - its a rich and boozy one! and has no suet in it) you could do small ones, if you wanted to, just measure the bowl and work out the proportions compared to the full size bowl (2ltr).
• plum pudding/Vegetarian plum pudding
• various fruits in alcohol which could be bottled
• buche de noel - otherwise known as chocolate log
• Christmas cakes of course
• Twelfth night cake
• brandysnaps

I've also got recipes for various hot drinks like mulled wine, mulled ale, mulled cider, alcohol free punch, Bishop, fruit claret, Whisky punch, rum and brandy toddy, orange brandy, home made noyeau. you could sell the dried spices needed to make these up in the correct proportions along with the recipes written out nicely. Perhaps even sell some hot(or warm) non-alcoholic stuff on the stall on the day?

wrapping ideas: brown paper and string. Just about *everything* was sold loose and wrapped up in brown paper... i've just checked my gran's memoirs which she wrote for me about 15 years ago, memories of her childhood. Granted, this was in the 1920s, but i don't think things had changed much. According to her purchases would either be wrapped first in greaseproof paper (for meats and so on) and then in white "shop" paper. sounds a bit like the stuff fish and chips come in now - or poured into cones made from thick blue paper - loose goods were often packed this way, like sugar or sweets and so on. She also records the use of brown paper bags. so any of those would do. Finally, once all the goods were stacked up they'd be totalled on a white sheet of billing paper and paid for, then all the individual parcels would be put into her mother's woven basket - a slower time, of course.. but you could use brown paper bags (like the americans use), perhaps, instead of plastic bags? more environmentally friendly too!

if any of those recipes sound good then let me know and i will type out the recipes for you.

HTH - and good luck with the fair!

keth
xx

lightisfading

actually come to think of it home bargains have brown paper bags in at the moment (theyre called 'lunch bags' to give you an idea of size.. not too big), theyre in the section with tupperware etc, and i think they were 99p for 10 or 12.

sandy2_2

kethry wrote: »

Mom gave me "Mrs Beeton's Christmas Book" last year for christmas. few suggestions from this:

• Twelfth night cake

I've also got recipes for various hot drinks like mulled wine, mulled ale, mulled cider, alcohol free punch, Bishop, fruit claret, Whisky punch, rum and brandy toddy, orange brandy, home made noyeau. kethxx

(much edited)

Please tell us more about 12th night cake and these drinks

Maysie

lemon gingerbread sounds divine

http://www.victoriana.com/library/cake.html

kethry

As requested:

Twelfth night cake: the tradition of this cake goes back to the days of the early christian church and beyond. In the middle ages, whoever found the bean in the cake became the "lord of misrule" or "king" for the festivities of twelfth night, with the finder of the pea as his queen. Finding the bean was thought to bring luck. This tradition survived until near the end of the nineteenth century.

150g/5oz marg / 75g/3oz Soft dark brown sugar / 3 eggs / 300g/11oz plain flour / 5ml/2tbsp golden syrup / 1/2 tsp mixed spice and ground cinnamon / 50g/2oz currants / 1tsp bicarbonate of soda / 100g/4oz sultanas / 100g/4oz mixed peel 1 dried bean and 1 large dried whole pea (see above)

1. line and grease a 15cm/6inch round cake tin. Preheat oven to 180*C/Gas Mark 4.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the marg and sugar together till light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a little flour with each to stop curdling. Warm the milk, add the bicarb and stir till dissolved. Add the syrup.
3. Mix the spices and salt with remaining flour, then add to the creamed mixture, alternating with the flavoured milk. Stir in the dried fruit and peel, lightly. Spoon half the mix into the cake tin, put the bean and pea in the middle, then cover with the rest of the mix. Bake for about 2 hours. Cool on a wire rack.

I don't have time to type out all the beverage recipes i'm afraid, so if you let me know which ones you're most interested in i'll see what i can do.

keth
xx