Munchie Monday: New Port Cake

Do you enjoy a cup of tea in the afternoon? This family recipe for New Port Cake suggests enjoying it with tea. Did you know that “Afternoon tea” actually resulted from changes in how and when people were eating their daily meals? The main meal, the big midday meal, was usually eaten around noon and would end with a cup of tea to help aid digestion. However, by the late 1700s and into the early 1800s the main meal of the day gradually moved to 6:30 p.m. or even later in the evening. This change in eating patterns resulted in an entire long afternoon without a snack and the need for “afternoon tea” was born. Anna Marie Russell (1783-1857), the Seventh Duchess of Bedford, is credited with introducing the idea of afternoon tea into English society in the 1840s.

 

Original Recipe–New Port Cake

2 cups of milk

1 cup white sugar

1 cup of butter

3 pints of sifted flour

4 eggs, beaten separately

4 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 soda

Add the egg whites. After all are mixed, bake in two small bread pans. Eat hot, with butter. For tea.

 

Adapted Cake–New Port Cake

1 cup of milk

½ cup powdered sugar

½ cup butter (one stick), softened

3 cups of flour

2 eggs

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two small 8 in. x 4 in. bread pans. Separate the egg yolks and egg whites. Cream butter and slowly add powdered sugar. Add egg yolks one at a time. Sift flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. The cake batter will be sticky. Beat egg whites until they form peaks. Fold in the egg whites into the cake batter. Pour batter into prepared bread pans.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool cakes for fifteen minutes on a baking rack.  Slice and serve with butter and honey.

 

A history of tea–Tea Story – The History of Afternoon Tea (destinationtea.com)