Mrs Lowe, a friend of Alison Uttley’s mother, has recipes attributed to her in Mrs Uttley’s delightful little cookery book, ‘Recipes From An Old Farmhouse.
Mrs Lowe’s Parkin is a gingerbread, oatmeal, flour, butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and black treacle, candied peel, zest of a lemon and two whole ounces of ginger were mixed then baked then cut into wedges. Mrs utterly describes it as “luxurious, the best cake”.
A recipe simply called Mrs Lowe’s Cake sounds rather strange… self-raising flour and butter rubbed together, sultanas and candied peel added, mixed with eggs and milks then baked… this sounds almost like a scone dough. Then blanched, split almonds are added to sugar and almond essence, and this is put on the cake (when it’s done) and browned in the oven; it is then iced with a simple icing sugar and water glaze, and lastly set “drying it before the fire”. I’m not sure how this would accord with modern tastes, it sounds a little dry… but maybe I’ll have a go at making it!
Mrs Lowe’s Little Cakes are the final recipe from the old friend, two cups of four, one cup of sugar, one cup of creamy milk “fresh from the cow”, to which is added a little yeast warmed in milk, and fruit to taste. There are no directions on how to bake it except that the mixture should b piled on the baking tray like rock buns.
I wonder who Mrs Lowe was? Mrs Uttley thought she came from a town because she used self-raising flour!
Lois Elsden 