The British have a sweet tooth and so do I -- sort of --, much to Fernando's consternation.
Here's a list of British desserts from Wikipedia. I need to identify the ones I should definitely search out in London and be aware of in Yorkshire and the Lake District.
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| Eccles Cake |
St. John, the head-to-toe dining of Fergus Henderson, offers Eccles Cake and Lancashire Cheese. According to Wikipedia, Eccles cake is a small, round cake filled with currants and made from flaky pastry with butter, sometimes topped with demerara sugar, from the British town of Eccles. An alternative name is "Squashed Fly Cake". Now, is that pronounced eckels or eckless? And for a bit of poptart humor: British fire brigades have reported fires started by Eccles cakes overcooked in microwave ovens. The sugar contained in the cakes is alleged to be flammable. You can learn even more about how they are made at Heston vs St. John.
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| Gypsy Tart |
Paul Hollywood (of Great British BakeOff fame) has a recipe for Gypsy Tart on BBC Food. Made of a filling of evaporated and condensed milk and dark brown sugar in a pastry crust, it must be awfully sweet and it doesn't seem particularly exciting. I can't imagine why St. John Smithfield has it on its dessert menu or why Paul Hollywood would bother with it. Evidently it is a common dessert for school dinners and you can see how to make it on this video from the Kent County Council (it originated in Kent), by a school meals trainer. And Pinterest has a collection of photos, including one topped by passion fruit from Bubble and Squeak.
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| Treacle Tart |
The Wolseley serves a treacle tart at its Afternoon Tea and according to Yelp, it is the best in London. This tart is as sweet as the gypsy tart, being made with breadcrumbs, golden syrup, and lemon to cut through the sweetness. Mary Berry (of the Great British BakeOff) has a simple recipe for treacle tart on the BBC Food website. According to The National Trust Book of Traditional Puddings, treacle (the syrup remaining after sugar refining, i.e. molasses) was used in the beginning and was gradually replaced by the lighter golden syrup. Oh, and evidently Harry Potter loves treacle tart. You can make it treacle pudding by leaving out the pie crust. Lyle's is famous for its golden syrup and treacle and also offers a recipe for Lyle's Lovely Treacle Tart.
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| Sticky toffee pudding |
This appears on almost all London dessert menus. It is a cake made with dates, eggs, sugar, flour and treacle ("treecul"), topped with a toffee sauce (the Brits love their toffee!). BBC Good Food has a recipe for the Ultimate Sticky Toffee Pudding if you want to try it before we go. The toffee sauce can be homemade or you can pick up a can of Carnation caramel sauce. Nigella Lawson has a recipe for it and even a YouTube video to help you. Gordon Ramsay serves it at his restaurants and Mary Berry bakes it as well. Pinterest will give you all sorts of versions.
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| Banoffee Pie |
Ban (from bananas) + offee (from toffee).
Wikipedia says it is an "English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee (made from boiled condensed milk, or dulce de leche), combined either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter." Supposedly it was developed "in 1971 by amending an unreliable American recipe for "Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie" with a soft toffee made by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours." Blum's Coffee Toffee Pie? Do you think Mother ever ate it in San Francisco? Carnation will sell you a can of caramel, which apparently is almost the same as dulce de leche.
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| Bakewell Tart |
According to Wikipedia, "a Bakewell tart is an English confection consisting of a shortcrust pastry shell beneath layers of jam, frangipane, and a topping of flaked almonds," while a "Bakewell pudding is an English dessert consisting of a flaky pastry base with a layer of sieved jam and topped with a filling made of egg and almond paste." They sound the same to me but the community of Bakewell Online says the Bakewell Tart "is not really at all like the Bakewell pudding either in flavour or texture." I guess we will have to try each to find out.
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| Rhubarb Crumble |
These are like our fruit crisps and are fruit topped with a streusel mixture of flour, butter and sugar. According to Wikipedia, "Crumbles became popular in Britain during World War II, when the crumble topping was an economical alternative to pies due to shortages of pastry ingredients as the result of rationing. To further reduce the use of rationed flour, fat and sugar, breadcrumbs or oatmeal could be added to the crumble mix." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame, has an article on cobblers, crisps and crumbles with recipes.
Fortunately if you don't like cloyingly sweet desserts, there is usually a cheese board selection in the puddings menu, like this one at the Drayton Arms Pub: British cheese plate - Taw Valley Cheddar and Garstang Blue with savoury biscuits, apple and fig chutney, celery and grapes. The National Café at the National Gallery offers an artisan British cheese plate (Keens Cheddar, Barkham Blue, Tunworth and Berkswell) served with oatcakes and chutney. The plate usually comes with crackers and chutney.
This 2016 article in the Guardian claims that now British cheesemakers are outperforming the French: "The experts’ guide to a great British cheeseboard". It mentions several cheese stores in London: Paxton & Whitfield, Neal's Yard Dairy, and La Fromagerie. So we'll have to explore them.
