Anyone want a little giggle-I’ve found a cake book from the 1970’s

[retainertrainer]

I’ve been sorting out my mum’s cupboards and came across the woman’s weekly birthday cake special. I’m going to take my inspiration from it for all family birthdays in the future.

Who knew you could make such masterpieces out of buttercream!

Oh cross posted - that monster! My version is new and it has been edited out...

I found this beauty in the attic this week !

I have got rid of most of the cookery books that I've acquired over the last 40 years but I kept a few favourites. Marguerite Pattern who taught me to cook, Delia, Nigella and the Australian Woman's Weekly Fantastic cakes.
It's not that old but I used it for several magnificent birthday cakes when DC were young including a giant yo-yo, a clown and a rocket. I do have photos

My mum's Be-ro book is falling apart. When she was able, she was renowned locally for her scones (from said book). When she dies I intend to include the recipient on the back of her funeral order of service!

Can anyone remember or indeed collect recipe cards, shiny with blue band across the top and came with a plastic container?
I collected them when first married and the box sat proudly on the work surface. Cannot for the life of me think how I collected them, and am not sure I ever used them.

Inventive use of mini swiss rolls and tea cakes as toadstools, I reckon that's something even I could manage.

I have the Hamlyn book - some great recipes in there. I also have a dairy cool book from the early eighties - still my 'go to' for certain dessert recipes. I have the Good Housekeeping book, published late 70's I believe , which has the best cake recipes. Among my other, old books, are a M&S budget cookery book and a few from Asda. Each one has recipes that are much loved by my family and are regularly cooked at their request.
My mum has her Good housekeeping book from the early 50's and I find it fascinating to see how different things are now.

Yes crisp beak for the duck no less. No alcoholic hedgehog I’m afraid!

I have to Hamlyn and the Dairy one!

The Hamlyn one is my favourite, some of the dishes are a bit...odd at best :o

Was it these EastmidsGP?
My mum had these, look at the price of them now!!

You can tell that the Sally cook book is from 1971...no stern warnings about getting mum to help you with the boiling sugar.

namechange4000 I have that book. It was DH Nan's and while I've not used it yet I'll never part with it.

If OP has reached the picture limit I can keep us going with some of the Hamlyn ones...

Oh my mum has the Be-Ro books and I'm sure my grandmother had OPs cake book. She died earlier this year and I believe my mum has put aside those old cake books for me! I have the Hamlyn book and still use it now! I attach some pictures of my 1934 Complete Illustrated Cookery Book which I adore

@McFugget and @Freezerbird I have the Hamlyn book too! I had it in the 70s and thought it was lost forever, then came across it when I was clearing out my mum's house out a few years ago.

My signature dish was the Breton Quiche, illustrated on the cover - the cover on mine has long gone so thanks for the pic Freezerbird! I've just dug my copy out again and the page with the chocolate brownies recipe is covered in (at a rough estimate) 30 year old cocoa powder.

Posters may recognise who wrote the introduction to the book....

I have the Dairy Cookbook too - in fact have just ordered and received the updated 50th anniversary edition from my milkman! It has the original recipes along with loads of new ones.

Oh yes MyGuideJools

All mine did was collect dust

Haha, I recognise those, OP, it’s the Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book. I am fondly leafing through it now.

Fab photos! And recipes! Sadly I've already used all my tough cock pheasants this season

I got my mum this postcard set a couple of years ago - 100 postcards of different cookery books covers - might be a good present for anyone interested in this kind of thing!

Ah that must be Mary Berry MrsFezziwig?!

My mother has a recipe book her grandmother wrote. It's splendidly impractical - she doesn't feel the need to bother with such trivialities as telling you what quantities you need. However, she is a bit more informative when it comes to making damson gin, where she clearly doesn't believe in small quantities and insists that you start out with several gallons of gin. I had a lovely mental picture of the cashier's face come damson season, when I stagger out of Tescos with three trolleys full of gin having totally cleared their shelves.

I wish I'd met my great-granny, she must have been quite a girl.

EastMidsGPs my mum had those too, I also can't remember where she collected them from, possibly a magazine, or maybe a subscription? I recently dithered, remembered that I had never used them & my mother hadn't for 40 years & threw them in a skip! I should have sold them.
She also had a dinner party cookbook where the pages were split into 3 with starters in the top section, then mains, then desserts, so you could have it open at whatever combination you wanted for that particular dinner party.

Hopefully attached is my Hamlin cookery book, looking slightly worse for wear, as I use it a lot. If I ever declittrer my cookery books, it would definitely be one of three I would keep.

The Stork book mentioned above my dm has, and a fruit cake in it has the basis for out Christmas cakes since I was a child, and also my wedding cake.

I’d forgotten about the dairy cookbooks. Feeling nostalgic now. We used to get them also (and didn’t they also do diaries).

(Disclaimer - Hamlin book actually belongs to dh, and was given to him by his dm before we got together, over 20 years ago.).

I have my Mums cook books. I love looking through them.

In addition her hand written recipes that she painstakingly took down whilst listening to Radio 2 Jimmy Young's 'recipe of the day ' .

I was about to post about toast water and see I was beaten to it. :)

Dear god... those clown cakes are the stuff of nightmares!