Comments On Article: Hot Milk Cake Recipe And Cornish Pasty Recipe

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leejo wrote

Thank you so much for these recipes and the detailed instructions, they are very easy to follow.
Having lost my mother recently and realised that all her recipes have been thrown away, I am trying to collect recipes again that I knew she would have liked and would have made.

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Paula Alexandra Santos wrote

You're welcome, Grandma Donna! ;)
I have it saved to try to do it one of these days and I'll also try the cornich pasties. They look DELICIOUS!
In the meantime, Nuno decided to try your homemade sandwich bread and is rising as I wrote this.
Thank you for all that you teach us!
:)

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Grandma Donna wrote

LeeJo , my heartfelt condolences for your recent loss of your mother. It must be difficult knowing that her recipes were thrown away, I hope that you can bring back at least the most memorable. Love, Donna

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Hilogene in Az wrote

Hi,
Yeah! The two recipes! I didn’t ask for them but wanted them ;). I looked up Cornish pasty online and became overwhelmed…thank you!

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Felicity again wrote

Delicious! We will be enjoying that Hot Milk Cake this coming week.
So interested in your Cornish pastie recipe which is different from the one I use which uses a more ordinary pastry ( not a kneaded dough) and ready ground beef ( we call it mince or steak mince) with chopped onion and potato. We are keen to sample your recipe here and I will be trying your butter into flour technique.
Thank you.

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Karen wrote

Question:
What can you substitute the lard for Donna as it is no longer common as an ingredient any longer here in NZ.
Would beef fat work do you think?

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Melissa in SC wrote

The pasties look delicious! Once I hit my goal weight, they might have to be my celebratory meal.
My 13 yo daughter has recently gotten into baking and she loves history. I'll have to show her the hot milk recipe and give it a try.
Last night, I showed them how to make homemade bread and butter. I've never made butter before, so they were skeptical at first. I love doing old fashioned activities with them. They were so shocked and impressed that it worked!

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Grandma Donna wrote

Karen, yes you can use fat. I would render it, beef/tallow or pork/lard Fat can be rendered by cutting the fat into about 1 inch pieces and letting it slow cook, never cook to a boil. Always strain the fat.
There is much information on the internet and youtube and many ways how to render fat and I would suggest reading or watching to see how it is done. It is not difficult at all to do. I recently did find some organic lard and splurged to buy some and then I realized I prefer to make my own. I have never done the oven or crock pot method, I always do mine on low heat on the stovetop. After I render fat and cool it I normally keep some in the freezer and a small jar in the refrigerator. I hope this helps because once you learn how to make your own lard it opens up more opportunity to make more recipes from the past. :) You can ask the butcher for fat or suet or to leave the fat on your cut of meat. You can cut the fat off and freeze it until you have enough to render. It never hurts to ask the meat manager or butcher. Let me know if you do this. :)

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Grandma Donna wrote

Karen, second reply. I looked around just a bit and found a favorite youtuber and her channel is called Mary's Nest. Here is a link to how Mary renders beef fat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjle_1RcYxA
I also recommend her rendering of chicken fat which makes Schmaltz which is rendered chicken fat. These are some old skills we all need to know in case we ever "need" to know this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie7xLxb1qZI&list=PLkRuW3pBo2U1vCbqH_Z5kng8wtQim3UWa

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Darlene from Ohio wrote

Thanks for the recipes. They both look so delicious. And being able to see the steps make it so much better.

I am going to check out the links, too. They sound interesting and something I want to learn how to do.

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Lissa wrote

Perhaps I missed a comment on this before: have you checked out WLVN radio on line? It all 1940s music and content from back in the day. I just put it on this evening and thought of everyone here

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Grandma Donna wrote

Thank you Lissa for the radio station suggestion. :)

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Stephenie wrote

Those look so wonderful, Grandma Donna! I can't wait to try the hot milk cake. It sounds like a wonderful dessert. I will make some sweetened whipped cream and buy some fresh blueberries to have with it. Thank you for your wonderful blog.

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Andrea wrote

I'm going to try out the Cornish Pasty really soon. They look very simple and filling. I recently learned about meat pies and revisited my notes from one of your posts years ago. Meat pie were very popular and still are. They seem to be one of those where you can add all sorts of things to them. When I was looking on the internet Cornish Pasty recipes also were there. The last time I made the hot milk cake I don't think I beat my eggs long enough because my cake didn't rise high enough and was more of a regular cake texture. It was still delicious though with peaches.

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Grandma Donna wrote

Andrea, never give up, even the weather can affect baking.

Since I posted the hot milk cake recipe that I have always used, I went back to researching hot milk cake recipes again, trying to find where they came from in the past. the oldest I had was early 1920's and I just found a Hot milk cake recipe from 1900, the oldest I have found so far. This one did not have any butter or vanilla and I have yet to try it and I will share it with you all.
This is how it is written.

Hot milk cake - 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup of flour, 1 slightly rounding teaspoonful baking powder, 1/2 cup hot milk (not boiling) no shortening. It makes quite a good sized cake, moist, tender and rich. Don't add more flour, thinking it too thin, the hot milk makes that all right. Can add chocolate and make a nice chocolate cake; try it. Grandma Donna

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I enjoyed this post about Cornish pasties. Thank you.

Having been born and bred in Cornwall for all of my 63 years, I’ve made and eaten quite a few pasties. I particularly appreciated the fact that you didn’t put any “alien” ingredients in your pasty - I’ve heard of some recipes even containing carrots!  Sacrilege!

Pasties made here in Kernow (Cornish language name for Cornwall) are made with shortcrust pastry - that’s half fat to flour and no kneading.

We always use skirt of beef.

The curling around the edge is known as crimping. Every true Cornish maid (dialect for a girl or woman) must be able to crimp well. 

Pasties were an ideal meal for the miners here, many of whom emigrated to Australia in the 19th century.  It’s been said that you could always find a Cousin Jack (Cornishman) at the bottom of an Australian mine. 

I've been looking lately for such recipes. Thanks for sharing!

I wanted to share with you a french silk cake recipe that impressed me deeply with its flavor and taste:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Fresh strawberries or whipped cream for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar, and salt.
3. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake for 8 minutes.
4. In a medium saucepan, melt chocolate over low heat. Set aside to cool.
5. In a large bowl, beat softened butter and 2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in melted chocolate and then eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the filling is set.
8. Allow cooling completely.
9. In a large bowl, beat whipping cream, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.
10. Spread over cooled pie.
11. Garnish with fresh strawberries or whipped cream, if desired.
12. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!

You rarely share dessert recipes, but have you come across recipes for “wacky”/“Depression” cakes? They are made without eggs or butter but do use vinegar and oil. According to what I’ve read they were developed or recipes were circulated during the Depression when so many people might not  have easy access to more expensive ingredients. I’ve tried a few and was pleased with the results. Since they were 8 inch cakes, these were perfect for the two of us. 

Grandma Donna, can you substitute ground beef for the beef called for in the Cornish pasty? I figured if so you'd brown it first. I noticed I don't have any left in the freezer, but I do have ground beef. 

Selv om du sjelden deler oppskrifter på desserter, har du kommet over oppskrifter på "wacky" eller "Depression" kaker? Disse lages uten egg eller smør, men bruker eddik og olje. Ifølge det https://delicia.no/ jeg har lest, ble de utviklet eller oppskriftene sirkulerte under depresjonen da mange mennesker kanskje ikke hadde lett tilgang til mer kostbare ingredienser. Jeg har prøvd noen og ble fornøyd med resultatene. Siden de var 8-tommers kaker, var de perfekte for oss to.