Although I have finally acquired a copy of "An Early Meal," the book that informs and makes fascinating deductions about Viking age cuisine, I have not had time to organize my thoughts into a proper essay. So instead, here's a tidbit from Old Foodways about a much more historically recent delicacy: Trench Cake!
No, Trench Cake is not baked in a trench. Rather, it seems to be a name for a family of cakes that could be made with inexpensive ingredients to ship to soldiers in the trenches during World War I. The version I stumbled over in the Daily Telegraph is sweetened with corn syrup, molasses, and raisins instead of sugar, and it uses no eggs; rather, a combination of vinegar, baking soda and baking powder enables the cake to rise, and the flour can be replaced with oatmeal if necessary. Baking For Britain cites another version of the recipe with cocoa powder in it, here.
To me, this sounds delicious--sort of a cake version of an (oatmeal) raisin cookie. Since I don't have a functioning oven, I can't try it for myself, but I'd be delighted to hear from any of my readers who decide to do so.
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