Dense Sticky Dessert Cakes to Light Jam-Filled Sponge Cakes From England

True to their cuisine, the English lack a variety and technique and to a large extent, also ingredients in their local cakes. Their cakes range from simple sponge cakes perfect with wine (Madeira cake), or jam-lined ones, perfect with a cup of Earl Grey (Victoria Sponge cake). There are also a handful of fruitcakes that range from dense to sticky with have been being baked for several centuries and are quite rustic.

1. Victoria Sponge Cake

This one is perhaps the most famous cake from England that was prepared in the 19th century, exclusively for Queen Victoria’s afternoon tea. It is an English sponge cake that has a layer of jam, typically strawberry or raspberry in between two cake loaves. The cake took its place alongside sandwiches and scones at afternoon tea parties. The modern versions also use other kinds of jam – apricot and greengage jam, and more recently whipped cream is also used.

2. Lemon Drizzle Cake

One of the most popular tea cakes around the world, lemon drizzle cake comes from England, that is a staple at afternoon teatime; Earl Grey tea is the perfect choice for this cake. Its origin might be a bit muddled but it’s believed that Evelyn Rose, a woman of the Jewish faith, had first made this cake in 1967. It is made with flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk, baking powder, lemon zest, and lemon juice which makes the batter and baked. The icing is the best part of this cake, which is made with lemon juice and icing sugar, drizzled over the cake once it is baked.

3. Battenberg cake

A quite regal-looking cake with pink and yellow alternating squares, it might come in other colours, the cake is made with a genoise sponge with an outer coating made with apricot jam and almond paste. It was created to celebrate the wedding of Prince Louis Battenburg to Princess Victoria in 1884. It's made in that typical four squares to represent the four siblings who were the Battenburg princes. It's a great tea cake for afternoon tea.

4. Parkin

A sticky cake that comes from the Northern part of England, in particular Yorkshire, this cake is made with flour, oatmeal, black treacle, and either lard or butter, which gives it its dense quality. Sometimes ginger is added to this cake to add flavour to an otherwise plain cake The cake has the feel of an oatmeal bar more than a cake because once it is baked, it turns hard. That can be avoided by sealing it in a container to keep it soft and moist. It is usually prepared in wintertime, particularly for Guy Fawkes Night, celebrated on 5 November.

5. Fat Rascal

Another Yorkshire cake, the Fat Rascal cake is made using leftover shortcrust pastry, butter, sugar and dried fruit mixed into it. A little cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest are added to flavour this plain cake. The cake has been being made since the early 1800s in Yorkshire and bears resemblance to the turf cake – a cross between a scone or rock cake in both how it tastes and the ingredients used to make the cake. The cake tastes even more delicious with a serving of thick cream on the side.

6. Cornish Hevva Cake

This cake is named after the huer’s yell, stationed at the Cornwall hilltops, who used to holler “hevva hevva” for the fisherman at sea, to point them to the shoal of fish nearby. After a hard day of work, it is said they would head home to their wives who, having heard their hollering, would welcome them home with the dense hevva cake. It is made using flour, butter, sugar, milk, lard, and raisins or currants with a cross-cross pattern representing fishing nets. With time “hevva” gave way to heavy and this cake is also called the heavy cake.

7. Simnel Cake

This cake is mostly prepared during Easter and is made with flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and milk with an addition of lemon and orange zest along with spices added to it – nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and saffron. Dried fruits such as currants, sultanas, and candied peel, are mixed into the batter. The cake is baked and a layer of marzipan covers the top of the cake with a neat arrangement of exactly 11 marzipan balls decorating the edges of the marzipan topping of the cake. The cake’s origin can be traced back to the medieval era, where a simpler version of the cake used to be made.

8. Madeira Cake

Another sponge cake baked in a tin loaf, the cake isn’t as fluffy as the Victorian Sponge Cake but uses similar ingredients and it is quite similar to the pound cake. It does not use any wine, it is called sich because it tastes fabulous with a glass of Portuguese Madeira wine. The name was adopted in the 1800s, where the elite would have this cake with their wine. The first recipes only started appearing around the 1840s.