Cakes in cafes in older books

[Tanaqui]

Just reading an Agatha Christie, and Miss Marple and an acquaintance are "pressing cakes on each other", and it occurred to me that I have often been puzzled by this in books set before about 1960- did people buy a whole plate of cakes? Did they pay for the plate, or what they ate? Or did the waitress bring a hostess trolley or tray over? It's just there often seems to be a selection, or discussion on who will have the last one; and in children's books, often a feeling of being stuffed afterwards. So how did it work?! It sounds much nicer than the 'order one cake each' we do now!

Kunzle Cakes and Showboats - I loved those - they were a huge treat.

I remember going out with my mum and granny and being brought a stand with various cakes to choose from.

I remember "High Tea" when we were on holiday in Scotland. I wasn't a big eater and forever being nagged about my appetite but "High Tea" - something on toast and cake - was perfect.

But for northerners the evening meal thus described is just 'tea' - there is no need to qualify with the word 'high'.

In the Enid Blyton southern English world, there is because only the children ate tea, at about 5 pm whereas the grown-ups who would have had afternoon tea, would have dinner at about 7 pm - and no doubt change into evening dress.

Certainly intriguing perspectives

@AdaColeman

This has reminded me of a childhood treat. A visit to one of my Mother's favourite tea shops, the one where they sold Kunzle cakes.

When out with my Mother, no shopping trip was complete without a pause for a cup of tea and a cake. Sometimes, the cafe by the station with slices of home made jam sponge, occasionally a Lyons teashop for a chocolate fairy cake, but the little place with the Kunzle cakes was the best.

The waitress would bring a plate with a selection of the delicate chocolate and sponge, intricately decorated, little cakes, a tempting delight to behold.

So as we sipped our reviving tea, we did indeed press each other to have yet another cake!

Sorry, Ada, I hadn't read the thread before I put my last post on or I would have known Kunzle cakes had already been mentioned by you.

In Ireland in the 80s my granny used to serve high tea which was cheese, ham, bread and butter, pickles and then fruit cake which was often buttered too, crumpets, and other cakes with tea or coffee.

@Gensola

In Ireland in the 80s my granny used to serve high tea which was cheese, ham, bread and butter, pickles and then fruit cake which was often buttered too, crumpets, and other cakes with tea or coffee.

My great aunt was a nun and in the 80s when we'd go to visit her a trolley would roll in laden down with treats that weren't common fare in 1980s Ireland. Loved a Sunday visit to that convent

I had never heard of Kunzle cakes, so I've googled them - and now I would really like one!!

This is indeed a lovely thread. I feel as if I'm in a novel by Barbara Pym. Health and Safety came in in the 70s I think so we just got germs in the 50s.
Complete afternoon tea has become very fashionable again. The White Hart in a nearby town did a very good one about 3 years ago, with tiny sandwiches and scone and several small tiny cakes, and a little glass of mousse. I know another place which does very good food but their afternoon tea consists of normal-sized sandwiches and a scone and just one large slice of their usual cakes, so it's not quite right.

Mmmm, caraway seed in soda bread - I never met that before. I'll see if I have some seeds.

@StrychnineInTheSandwiches

I'm another one who learnt the difference between afternoon tea (dainty morsels eaten in a ladylike fashion) and high tea (hearty fare like slices of pie and hot buttered crumpets followed by slabs of cake) via Ms. Blyton. Those farmhouse high teas always sounded so delectable.

And in Six Cousins At Mistletoe Farm, we’re left in no doubt about the moral superiority of hearty rural high tea over dainty, townie afternoon tea.

Yes, a couple of the local hotels did afternoon tea, at least before Covid.
Small dainty sandwiches, small sausage rolls and then the three tiered cake stand. All for an inclusive price per head, so you could scoff all the cakes because you had paid for them.

Which convent/order, @StrychnineInTheSandwiches? The Presentation convent that educated me had terrible food, the odd time I ate anything there.

Don't go overboard with them @upinaballoon they impart much flavour

Yes, @Negligee, Blyton's disdain was clear. I seem to remember their flighty mother came in for the most scorn as opposed to capable, high tea procuring, country mum! Poor woman's house had just burnt down and her kids had been shipped off to another county.

@Negligee

Which convent/order, *@StrychnineInTheSandwiches*? The Presentation convent that educated me had terrible food, the odd time I ate anything there.

It was the Sisters of Charity. My dad says that when he used to visit his aunt, in the 1950s, it was all buttered bread and half a currant scone. But by the 1980s the nuns were clearly living it large and guests to the convent were given exciting delights like eclairs and new fangled mars bar ice-creams. Not a slice of buttered bread in sight!

In Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire high tea invariably included a cooked dish. This is what differentiated it from "tea", which was usually cold things with bread, eg sliced tongue, brawn, or perhaps a slice of gala pie.
The hot dish might be a Barnsley chop, or devilled kidneys, a meat pie or liver and bacon or something similar. There would also be bread & butter, a slice of cake, possibly a muffin (completely different from American muffins) or pikelet.

Arnold Bennett's Clayhanger series and Anna of the Five Towns series, and J. B. Priestley works have frequent references to similar meals.

In Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire high tea invariably included a cooked dish.

As one with family from those parts - we never made a distinction, between hot and cold food. The evening meal was tea whether it was a meat pie, or boiled ham. (And still is for tea me - whether it's quiche and salad or shepherd's pie.)

Afternoon tea wasn't something you ate at home - it was when you went out to a posh tea room.

@StrychnineInTheSandwiches

Yes, *@Negligee*, Blyton's disdain was clear. I seem to remember their flighty mother came in for the most scorn as opposed to capable, high tea procuring, country mum! Poor woman's house had just burnt down and her kids had been shipped off to another county.

AND poor Rose’s dimwit husband hadn’t paid the house insurance, so not a penny compensation after they lost their home and belongings in the fire. I’d probably have retired to a nursing home in high dudgeon, too.

And yes, poor red-faced, bustling Linnie, who’s passionate about music and poetry, but can only indulge it in secret on Cyril’s radio because her Big Farmer husband controls the family set in the evenings, and who is stuck with running an ancient farmhouse with no hot running water or electricity, and six quarrelling children. And who, when she gets a chance to move to a convenient modern house, is guilted out of it by her kids…

I was hanging out with the wrong nuns in the eighties, clearly, @StrychnineInTheSandwiches!

We never talked about high tea. Scottish family, moved to Yorkshire in 1971, and we had tea as our main meal in the evening. We ate between 6 and 6.30, whenever my Dad got back from work, and we had a main course, usually hot in the winter, often cold in the summer, followed by bread, butter, jam etc and also at least one plate of cake or chocolate biscuits - i.e. something fancier than bread and butter. All washed down with tea. It was extremely substantial. As none of us were engaged in vigorous manual labour, I don't know how we didn't all become obese. I suppose my brother and I were growing teenagers and my Mum was a primary school teacher, so on her feet most of the day. My Dad's job was not entirely sedentary but he certainly spent a lot of time behind a desk, and his waistline expanded a lot during my childhood.

At some point subsequently my parents changed what they ate in the evening but they still call it tea, even though tea is not served with it any more. They now have a main course (usually meat or fish with potatoes and vegetables), washed down with wine (Dad) or water (Mum), followed by a pudding. The cake etc still puts in an appearance, but it's usually served at lunchtime these days, or with a cup of tea mid-afternoon (or both).

Anyway, after that rivetting account , here's a picture of Kunzle Cakes I found courtesy of Google. It's from this blog. www.davidpilling.com/wiki/index.php/Kunzle If I ever had these, it must have been when I was very young, as I don't remember them at all.

Gaspode - this was our idea of tea too.

I might have had kunzle cakes, but if so, I didn't know that's what they were called.

Just to clarify, my comments about high tea are referring to a period between about 1880 and 1930 when Bennett and Priestley set their works, since the theme of the thread is food in "older books".

As an aside, it's interesting how quickly food trends come and go these days.... is Mexican food old hat now?

If really love a kunzle cake although is never heard of them. And I'd love to read Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm again!

Soery, first sentence should read I'd really love a kunzle cake although I'd never heard of them...

I love seed cake, and kunzle cakes look delicious too! We had high tea when I was a child in the 70s, which we differentiated from a "tea,tea"- I think possibly the difference was that high tea had a hit component, but I will have to see if my sister remembers more clearly!

@Peregrina

But for northerners the evening meal thus described is just 'tea' - there is no need to qualify with the word 'high'.

In the Enid Blyton southern English world, there is because only the children ate tea, at about 5 pm whereas the grown-ups who would have had afternoon tea, would have dinner at about 7 pm - and no doubt change into evening dress.

High tea is a bit more specific than tea used to mean supper or dinner isn’t it??

I always take High Tea to mean the end of day meal for people who eat their main meal in the middle of the day - so it’s solid but not the biggest meal of the day.