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!

Treacle that’s the one my mum had and I stole inherited it when I went to uni. I had it up until a few years ago and my DC loved looking through it to choose a cake - we even made the Humpty Dumpty one for DS one year - he was delighted. Unfortunately I lent it to a friend a few years back and I never got it back. She now says she doesn’t have it so I suspect she accidentally got rid of it to a charity shop in a clear out or has just plain lost it. Gutted.

My mum also has the Be-Ro one along with several other books. She found some real crackers when she was clearing my Grandparents house earlier this year apparently but I haven’t had a chance to look through them yet - will need to see if there are any I fancy next time I go to visit.

@MrsFriskers thank you!! Will take a look.

Bero book was the best, also watching Fanny Craddock now is pretty funny

Lurid buttercream was at least edible. Celebration cakes now are beautifully decorated with roll out fondant, which is as easy to mould as Play Doh and tastes just as awful.

Another one with the Hamlyn book here My mum had one and she found a copy in a church sale after I moved out and bought it for me. The previous owner left little notes in the margins and if she put a * against a recipe, it's worth trying as we seem to share the same favourites.

I recently bought the Good Housekeeping Children's Cookbook ( aimed only at girl children apparently!). Full of useful info such as how to make a cup of tea or produce a roast dinner!

@badgerhead I have a stork margarine cookbook from the 1970's that I used when doing cookery at High School. I still use it now

Me too! :)

I had a Hamlyn Cookery for Children book with delights as making orange jelly and setting it in halved orange peel (orange removed) and then cutting the halves into half again as a party snack.

I was never allowed to make anything though, so I queried why give me a cookery book then? I never had an answer.

My DM had the Women’s Weekly book when we were growing up. We loved looking through it as children.
DM made us fabulous cakes over the years but my favourite is the story of my 1st birthday cake. It was a complete disaster, DM attempted the duck cake (pictured earlier in thread - I think) and made the wrong icing. It was too heavy and the ducks head kept falling off. DM is not known for her patience and after battling with the head and the icing for a while, tipped the lot in the bin I only wish I knew anything about it, I was 1 and oblivious to all.
One of my aunties saved the day, she’d made a traybake for the party & they used that for my cake instead.

Also.. the book is still in print, I bought myself a copy earlier this year purely for nostalgia.

I have the Hamlyn cookbook - red cover.

I still use it for basics.

I've noticed that modern recipes have significantly more eggs/cream/butter in them that my old Hamlyn one. Things like scones etc are quite different. Those recipes have a lot of flour in, so much cheaper to make than using other ingredients.

Anne - I remember doing that!

Whoever mentioned melting moments I still love a coffee kiss too.
The cookery year picture gave me a flashback too.

I still have my first cook book, very 70's.

@namechange4000 I have that book too

@retainertrainer my mum had that same book, probably still got it on a bookcase somewhere!

Who remembers Mrs Beeton? I found her cookbooks recently but I never used them.

My mum has the Hamelyn All-Colour Cookbook!

My dad has one that he was given when he moved away to university, called “Cooking Step-By-Step”, I think. I can’t find it online, but it is an absolute joy - the themed dinner parties! The breathtaking sexism of the section on what to cook for a man on a special occasion! The photographs are all so 70s, it’s magnificent.

My mum had a cookbook that I loved looking at as a child in the 80s, my favourite section was the desserts and cakes. I can't remember the name of it but the cover was that particular shade of 70s/80s tan-brown, there was a recipe for a train cake and a lurid pink blancmange (?) in the shape of a rabbit.

What is it about flickibg through old cookbooks that brings back lots of lovely childhood memories?

My mum had 2 boxes of those recipe card collections. I gave them to my SIL after DM died as SIL is into cooking in a big way so I thought she might be interested in them. The only recipe from them that I ever remember using as a child was the one for fairy cakes! I did however keep the Good Housekeeping cookery book from the 1950's just because I remember it always being in the kitchen - not sure I'd want to cook anything from it though

Ooh I love old cookery books! I remember these!

My dad has one with a recipe that includes bear paws

namechange that picture gave me a real emotional jolt. I can actually smell my mum's copy.

I can still find them in Tesco, Asda and sainsbury round here

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/297545373

Amazon do them too If your local shops don't have them. They're a particular favourite of my aunt and sort of a family joke as they're the only sweetie she likes - so come Christmas she gets inundated and they last her ages 😂

Bigbluebus - don't get me started on fairy cakes and cupcakes! Splurging half a ton of buttercream on top of a fairy cake DOES NOT make it a cupcake!!

If we're talking 70's-tastic cakes - remember butterfly buns?

This may be the place to ask if anyone has ever had my favourite childhood pudding which my mum claims to have never heard of which was, I think, essentially a Swiss roll (of the chocolate variety rather than jam) and then something like angel delight over the top.
Another was something we called "measles mousse" (although, again, my mum claims to have no recollection of it) which was some sort of pink, creamy mousse with jelly bits in it.