Eggless sponge.

Eggless sponge.

Due to rations, baking has been off the menu lately, which has been a shame as it is one of my favourite past-times. Fortunately, I have been saving up fat and sugar which has enabled me to make this ‘eggless sponge.’

I was also spurred onto make this sponge as my least favourite television personalities ‘The Hairy Bikers’ also happened to make this last night on television as part of the latest ‘food revolution’ type program. Theirs is about advancing the state of meals on wheels. Although the concept does seem like an extension of Jamie’s attempt to improve school meals, I must say that after watching this program, the meals served by the ‘wheels’ were horrible and hats off to them! I cannot believe that these vulnerable older people were served frozen re-gen food from the offer section of a mass food supplier!

The women in this ‘meals on wheels’ kitchen, were actually steaming ready prepared cabbage. Why would anyone have a need for frozen ready shredded cabbage? How hard, is it really to get a fresh cabbage and shred it your self?

 I am all for cheats in the kitchen, but this really was shocking. There was also this abhorrent scene where the bikers were looking for a bit of chicken in a horrible liquidy gravy, which was meant to be a chicken pie.

The frozen horrors and general lack of quality from this freezer really was the Anti-Christ of cooking. I think that our older generation, really do deserve better. So, bikers, despite my general apathy towards you, I like what you are doing here. Please, oh please change these freezer abominations!

They began the program with the history of meals on wheels, which started during WW2, which just showed how the masses could be fed on very little. Despite the austerity, all of the meals were home cooked and fresh. What a shame in today’s modern world of excess where the possibilities are endless, we are cutting open bags of frozen cabbage!

Recipe:

6oz self-raising flour, 1 tea-spoon of baking powder, 2 ½ oz margarine, 2 oz sugar, 1 level of golden syrup, ¼ pt milk.

Cream the margarine, with the sugar and the syrup, add the flour and baking powder and thin with milk. Place in a 20cm tin, bake for 30 mins at 180 and spread with jam.

I didn’t have any jam, but instead had four apples from a friends garden.

Apple sauce topping, four apples cooked with a tablespoon of sugar until soft and spread on top.