The Kentish cake was one of my mother’s specialties. I remember her baking Kentish cake often when I was a child (I wrote about this in Pasta Bake). As well as my mother’s Kentish cake recipe, this story includes a “slice of history”: food and home cooking in Australia in the 1930s and 1940s. It’s a companion story to my previous post My mother, a young woman, which I wrote as a Mother’s Day tribute to my late mother, Evelyn.

My version of Evelyn's Kentish cake.
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My version of Evelyn’s Kentish cake. Photo source: Judith Salecich 2016.

A SLICE OF HISTORY

Evelyn was typical of many young women of her era. She learnt how to cook at home under the tutelage of her mother. She happily and willingly helped her mother in the kitchen. She did not question the norm that it was a woman’s role to do the cooking and manage the family household.

Evelyn loved cooking and she was good at it too.

In fact, she won prizes for recipes she submitted to The Australian Women’s Weekly. And she never told me! A few years after her death, I was surprised to discover this during a search on Trove, the National Library of Australia online database.The Australian Women’s Weekly was first published on 10 June 1933. It is still published today and is one of Australia’s most popular magazines for women.

In 1939, at 23, Evelyn won First prize, £1 (today’s equivalent is approximately 80 AUD), for her Kentish Cake recipe (The Australian Women’s Weekly, Saturday 12 August 1939, p. 70). As a young woman living in country Queensland, this was a great achievement and it must have given her much pleasure.

Evelyn's first prize Kentish cake - The Australian Women's Weekly 1939.
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Evelyn’s first prize Kentish cake – The Australian Women’s Weekly 1939.
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Kentish cake recipe in Evelyn’s handwriting

Two years later, in 1941, Evelyn was awarded a Consolation prize, 2/6d (today’s equivalent is approximately 9.50 AUD) for her recipe Sultana Baskets (The Australian Women’s Weekly, Saturday 1 March 1941, p. 46).

In 1949, Evelyn (now married) won a Consolation prize, £1 (today’s equivalent is approximately 50 AUD) for her Spiced Meat Loaf recipe (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 12 March 1949, p. 50).

1949: Evelyn, husband and son on a visit to Rannes. Photo source: Proposch Family archives.
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1949: Evelyn, husband and son on a visit to Rannes. Photo source: Proposch Family archives.

Evelyn’s recipe books from the 1930s and 1940s

In my collection of recipe books, I have two that belonged to Evelyn. She used these books throughout her adult life. One is dated 1934, the other 1949. Both books give us a peek into everyday life in Australia in the 1930s and 1940s.

They reveal much about culinary habits and the scope and manner of home cooking in that period (1930s, 1940s). The range of recipes and choice of ingredients generally was narrower then than it is today, the exception being biscuits, cakes, pastries and puddings. Page-wise, approximately one-half of the 1934 and 1949 recipe books is devoted to biscuits, cakes, pastries and puddings. Clearly, in the 1930s and 1940s most households were expected to prepare these foodstuffs at home. Very few were available or purchased commercially (as is the case today).

Recipes in these two books are listed according to the following topics:

  • savouries and soups
  • poultry, fish and meat
  • breakfast and luncheon dishes
  • vegetables and vegetable dishes
  • biscuits, cakes and pastries
  • bread, buns and scones
  • puddings and sweet sauces
  • salads, dressings and savoury sauces
  • jams, jellies and preserves
  • pickles, sauces and chutneys
  • confectionery
  • beverages
  • invalid cookery.

Notably absent in these books are recipes many of us are familiar with today. Examples are: rice and pasta dishes, international cookery, quiches and savoury slices, pavlovas, sweet slices, muffins.

The first book, entitled simply Cookery Book, was published in 1934 by the Federal Press, Rockhampton. Evelyn’s copy, a third edition, was compiled by Miss Vivien Voss to raise funds for the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Rockhampton. It was written for women and intended to be used by women.

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My mother’s 1934 and 1949 cookery books.

The second book, All-Electric Cookery Book, was published in 1949 by Associated General Publications Pty Ltd, Sydney. This copy, a fourth edition, was compiled by Mrs F V McKenzie, Director of The Electrical Association for Women (Australia). Once again, this book was directed at women cooks and homemakers.

The All-Electric Cookery Book, as its name suggests, aimed to help post-war housewives make the change from combustion-fueled cooking to cooking with electricity. In the 1930s, few Australian homes had access to electricity. Most cooks used combustion (wood-fired) stoves. However, by the late 1940s, electricity was available to homes in most Australian cities and urban areas, including Rockhampton.

“Modern” cooks were enticed by the claim that an electric kitchen would give them freedom. Cooking with electricity meant: efficiency, economy, cleanliness and leisure! An electric kitchen typically included a stand-alone electric cooker (“stove”), an electric mixer, an electric jug and an electric toaster.

Both books contain a section dedicated to household management generally. In the 1934 publication it is headed “Miscellaneous” and covers cooking hints, preparation of homemade cleansers, and first aid. The 1949 publication provides an extensive “Electrical Guide Section”, aimed to help 1940s women use the “magic gift of electricity safely, confidently and economically”. By 1949 Evelyn and her husband were living in Rockhampton and had access to electricity.

One cannot help but notice that the 1934 and 1949 recipe books are full of advertisements. Most are whole-page advertisements by local retailers and Australian manufacturers of ingredients, kitchenware and home appliances. In the preface to the 1949 publication, the author wrote: “Attention is especially directed to the advertisements. You will find every one of them most helpful as a guide to a better standard of living.”

The advertisements are most telling.

They shed light on Australian society, its values and norms, in the 1930s and 1940s.

  • The target audience is unashamedly women.
  • For services, there is an emphasis on quality, value, personal attention and reliability.
  • For products, quality ingredients and the maker’s guarantee is paramount (“Only the best and purest ingredients are used”).
  • There is an emphasis on economy, goodness and convenience.
  • Almost all saleable items are Australian-made.
  • Appliances are made to last.
  • Housewives are encouraged to be “smart” in their choices of ingredients, kitchen utensils, appliances and cookers.
  • Achieving success as a cook and homemaker is promoted: “Good Cooks are not born – they’re made!” (Simpson’s (Simpson’s Self-Raising Flour) and “Saxon Stoves for Better Cooking” (Saxon Guaranteed Stoves and Boilers).

The 1949 All-Electric Cookery Book promoted many new products for the kitchen and households generally. Apart from electric cookers and electric appliances (mentioned previously), new kitchen products included pyrex and aluminium kitchenware, pressure cookers, and the Propert Swift-Whip beater-mixer. My mother acquired and used all of these products. In fact, I still use Evelyn’s vintage Propert Swift-Whip beater-mixer and her 1940s aluminium pudding steamer, a basin and fitted lid.

Using Evelyn's vintage Propert Swift-Whip beater-mixer. Photo source: Tony Salecich 2016.
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Using Evelyn’s vintage Propert Swift-Whip beater-mixer. Photo source: Tony Salecich 2016.
Evelyn's vintage Propert Swift-Whip beater-mixer (one of my favourite kitchen tools, often used). Photo source: Judith Salecich 2016.
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Evelyn’s vintage Propert Swift-Whip beater-mixer (one of my favourite kitchen tools, often used). Photo source: Judith Salecich 2016.

Food for thought

I conclude this brief survey of food and home cooking in the 1930s and 1940s with the following poem, an extract from Owen Meredith’s The Dinner Hour. Owen Meredith was a pen-name for Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, an English statesman who lived from 1831 to 1891. These verses were chosen by Miss Vivien Voss as an epilogue to her 1934 Cookery Book (page 299):

We may live without poetry, music, and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
He may live without books,—what is knowledge but grieving?
He may live without hope,—what is hope but deceiving?
He may live without love,—what is passion but pining?
But where is the man that can live without dining?

What do you think: Can we live without cooks? Can we live without dining?

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A slice of Evelyn’s Kentish cake. Photo source: Judith Salecich 2016.

KENTISH CAKE

Ingredients

125g soft butter or margarine
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon coconut essence
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon desiccated coconut
½ cup chopped nuts, cherries and sultanas
¼ cup milk
1 cup sifted Self-Raising flour

Method

  1. Cream butter (or margarine) and sugar. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.
  2. Add the vanilla essence and coconut essence.
  3. Fold in the sifted cocoa and coconut.
  4. Add the milk and sifted flour and mix well.
  5. Fold the nuts, cherries and sultanas into the mixture.
  6. Pour into a well-greased and floured or paper-lined round 20cm cake tin or loaf tin.
  7. Bake in a moderate oven for 35-40 minutes (or until top of cake springs back when touched lightly).
  8. When cool, dust with icing sugar or ice with chocolate icing and sprinkle with browned coconut.

Source: Evelyn Proposch

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Author

Judith Salecich

Writer, researcher, former secondary and tertiary teacher and public servant, wife, mother, grandmother, child of God, photography enthusiast, lover of life, history, food and all things creative.

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10 thoughts on “Kentish Cake and slice of history”

  1. Its a lovely reminder of a gentler time Judy. I had thought you were going to show the photo of your Propert beater. I am definitely going to try the Kentish Cake.

  2. I remember Kentish Cake Judy, we made it in “Home Science B” when I was in Grade 9 or 10, I think I have it in my old cookbook from school. I used to make it lots when I was first married. Thank you for the memory….x

  3. Hello Judy,
    I came across this blog as I researched recipes for Kentish Cake. I found a recipe in the Nursing Mothers Association of Australia second cookbook that my Mother had given me 30 years ago. Searching for something different to make I came across Kentish Cake. New to me. The ingredient list was missing the amount of coconut but not in the instructions! Hence the search. Your blog was delightful, and reminded me of several books belonging to my late mother; The Kookaburra Cookery Book, which had belonged to my great aunt first, and a newer book, Green & Gold Cookery book(1949). Each full of advertisements and hints, like you showed.

    • Dear Stephanie. I’m so pleased you found what you were looking for, and you found it on my blog! Thanks for sharing your experience of your mother’s old recipe books, just like mine. I love these old books! Happy baking! Love, Judy.

  4. Congratulations! Your blog has been included in INTERESTING BLOGS in FRIDAY FOSSICKING at

    https://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com/2019/05/friday-fossicking-10th-may-2019.html
    Thank you, Chris

    How wonderful to discover something new about your mother… in a way, I can understand her keeping her achievements to herself. All else was devoted to her family, these successes most likely brought out her own few moments…then again, maybe it was just because she didn’t want to boast.I have a few of those old beaters, different styles.. and yes, I still use them.
    When my grandchildren and before them, my children, were small, they loved using them, particularly when making pancakes.. they would sit for ages, making the batter silky smooth. Great memories revived of those times, as well as of one of my all time favourite cakes, Kentish cake… thanks Judy.

  5. Kentish Cake was our favourite cake when we were young and I was wanting to make it for my sister’s 90th birthday. Would you recipe suit for a cake 10in x 10in so that we can give 30 people a licec?

  6. Hi Judith
    I loved reading your blog. I came across it by accident while looking on the internet for a Kentish Cake recipe to enter in the local show. Your recipe and story brought back many lovely memories of growing up in Rocky. My Mum loved Kentish Cake and made it often. Loved the photo of Evelyn when she visited Rannes. I remember using a rotary hand beater when I went to Home Science class.
    Keep up the good work.

  7. As children my Nan always made our favourite & her signature Kentish Cake when coming to visit or us going to stay with her. I thought she had taken the recipe to her grave my brothers & I have often mentioned how delicious it was & have that lovely memory of Nan’s baking.
    However, we have just found a copy of the recipe in my Uncles papers when he died recently. I now have this handwritten copy as one of my treasured possessions. I’m going to make it for the King’s Coronation next week & let my children & grandchildren see what I’ve been talking about for all these years!!

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