The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook (35 page)

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cup unsalted butter

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cup shortening

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cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

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cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

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cup whole milk

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

2 pounds confectioners’ sugar

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cup plus 2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons orange extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup shortening

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract

2 pounds confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
   
2. For cake:
   In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in vanilla extract.
   
3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Be sure to beat well after each addition.
   
4. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form, then add to batter.
   
5. Pour mixture into a well-greased and lightly floured 9-inch baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before moving cake to wire rack to cool completely.
   
6. Cut a thin slice off each side of the cake, then cut cake into 1-inch squares. Place squares
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   -inch apart on a large baking sheet.
   
7. For glaze:
   In a large bowl, combine 2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, water, and orange and almond extracts. Beat until well blended, then apply glaze evenly over tops and sides of cake squares. Let dry. Repeat if necessarily to thoroughly coat squares. Make sure glaze dries completely.
   
8. For fondant:
   In another large bowl, mix together corn syrup and shortening. Mix in salt and vanilla, then gradually mix in confectioners’ sugar and knead by hand until it forms a stiff dough. If dough is sticky, add more confectioners’ sugar until smooth.
   
9. Roll dough out onto a clean surface that has been dusted with confectioners’ sugar. Roll dough until it is no thicker than
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   inch. Cut fondant to fit over cakes, and smooth fondant down over the sides of the cakes.
   

There is a certain etiquette for eating a petit four depending on its size. Large petits fours that take more than two bites to eat should be eaten with a fork. Small petits fours of one or two bites are eaten with the fingers. Either way, it is polite to serve your petits fours in a paper wrapper to protect your guests’ fingers from the delicate frosting.

A popular spread or topping for bread and scones served at afternoon tea, lemon curd was also used as a filling for cakes, pastries, and tarts. Mrs. Patmore would be sure to have plenty of this on hand for the Crawleys and any last-minute tea cravings.

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cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

3 eggs

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cup sugar

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cup unsalted butter, cubed

1. Heat lemon juice and lemon zest in a double boiler until hot but not boiling.
   
2. Whisk eggs in a medium-sized bowl, followed by sugar when juice is heated. Place a towel under bowl holding egg-sugar mixture to prevent the bowl from moving when subsequent ingredients are added.
   
3. Slowly add a little of the heated juice mixture to eggs, stirring constantly. Pour just enough juice to temper the eggs so they are about the same temperature as the juice.
   
4. Holding a strainer over the heated juice mixture, pour the egg mixture that has been tempered with juice back into the juice mixture, through a strainer. Cook curd over low heat until thick enough to show whisk marks and the first bubbles appear. This could take up to 15 minutes.
   
5. Once whisk marks are showing, add butter a cube at a time, stirring to help melt. Chill curd for 2–3 hours (or overnight), covered.
   

While it was still more common for cooks or hostesses to whip up lemon curd on their own, due to an advent in technology in the mid-to-late 1800s (not to mention the refrigerator), more branded goods became available at the market, including pudding mixes and, yes, lemon curd. So if Mrs. Patmore was feeling particularly lazy — and if she trusted that the Countess of Grantham wouldn’t notice the difference — she could run out to the store and simply purchase some lemon curd — at least before war rationing made these store-bought goods hard to come by.

When Anna loses her composure over the unfair verdict handed down to her saintly husband, it’s likely that Mrs. Hughes would try to comfort her with some soothing tea and these chocolate crumpets.

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons high-quality cocoa powder

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

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cup whole milk

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tablespoon vegetable oil

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

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cups high-quality milk chocolate chips

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
   
2. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk with a fork until egg is thoroughly incorporated.
   
3. Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients, then slowly pour in wet ingredients. Whisk together thoroughly, then add chocolate chips.
   
4. Chill mixture for 30 minutes in refrigerator.
   
5. On a slightly greased nonstick skillet over medium heat, add dollops of the crumpet mixture in the size of crumpets you desire. Once crumpets start to bubble, flip over and cook the other side. Repeat until you use up the entire batch of crumpet dough. Serve warm, perhaps with heated Nutella and sliced strawberries.
   

In British slang, calling someone “a bit of crumpet” means she is an attractive woman. It appears that the British like their food slang, as a “tart” refers to a prostitute.

With the fresh strawberries Mrs. Patmore would purchase at the market, these Chocolate-Covered Strawberries are a must for any berry-lover in possession of a sweet tooth and a solid pot of tea. Additionally, strawberries are traditionally associated with desire and lust, so if Lady Mary felt like giving off subliminal messages to Matthew Crawley, she would simply have to request these zesty chocolate strawberries.

10 ounces high-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped

6 ounces high-quality milk chocolate, chopped

8 ounces high-quality white chocolate, chopped

1 pound fresh strawberries (with stems), rinsed and dried

1. Line one large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Chill the lined sheet in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
   
2. Place chopped semisweet and milk chocolates in one bowl and the white chocolate in a different bowl. Using a double boiler, melt the semisweet and milk chocolate, stirring occasionally until mixture is smooth and creamy. Do not let the water touch the bottom of the upper pan. The chocolate mixture should actually be cool to the touch while melting.
   
3. Once chocolate is melted, remove from heat. Holding strawberries by the stem, dip the berries into the melted chocolate mixture, then place on chilled parchment-lined cookie sheet.
   
4. Melt white chocolate in the double boiler. Spoon melted white chocolate into a small, sturdy Ziploc bag (the kind that holds sandwiches). Cut the bottom corner edge of the bag and drizzle white chocolate over the semisweet- and milk-chocolate–covered strawberries.
   
5. Place strawberries aside and allow to set at room temperature at least 1 hour, and serve.