CAKES & PASTRIES

Buns

The Widow's Bun

The buns are provided by Mr Bun's Bakery in Chadwell Heath

The bun is presented to the landlord by a sailor at 3p.m. on Good Friday. The sailor who presents the bun leaves behind his cap.

Location: The Widow's Son, 75 Devons Road, Bow, E3 3PJ

See Also: FOLK TRADITIONS

Cakeage

It was reported in 2009 that some bars and restaurants had introduced a new charge - cakeage. This was modelled on the existing practice of corkage. A sum was charged if people brought their own cakes to a meal or social event.

Cake Straightener Bates

Alan Bates (1934-2003) was born in Belper, Derbyshire. At the age of fifteen he befriended the actor and future director John Dexter. At seventeen he won a place to train at R.A.D.A. His big break was playing Jimmy in the initial theatrical production of Look Back In Anger (1956). He went on to act in a series of television kitchen sink dramas. He appeared in a series of movies. These included: Whistle Down The Wind (1961), Zorba The Greek (1964), Georgy Girl (1966), and Women In Love (1969).

Bates had a sweet tooth. He was nicknamed Bounty Bar Bates and was known for the catchphrase I ll just straighten up the corner of that cake .

Contemporary Bakers

Fortitude Bakehouse

Fortitude Bakehouse.

Location: 35 Colonnade, WC1N IJA (orange, purple)

Website www.fortitudebakehouse.com

Konditor

In 1993 Gerhard Jenne, a German, bought a bakery in Waterloo.

Konditor & Cook was renamed Konditor and focused on cakes.

Location: 22 Cornwall Road, SE1 8TW

Website: www.konditor.co.uk

Cough Tarts

The dean's son was the natural historian Frank Buckland. As a young man, Buckland fils trained and worked as a doctor. At a clinic that he held in St George's Hospital an old woman presented herself. She had a cough and was quite specific about which medicine she should be prescribed for it, claiming that the concoction had cured a friend of hers of the same condition. The youthful physician could see no reason not to comply with her wish. A few days later she attended his clinic again. She was still coughing. She suggested that she should be supplied with a larger bottle of the solution. Again, Dr Buckland acquiesced to her desire.

This interaction recurred a number of times and the doctor's suspicions were aroused. Upon one of her visits, he issued her with her now customary prescription. She left the consultation room and went to the hospital pharmacy, where she was issued with yet another bottle of the medicine. She then left the building. Buckland had her followed. She returned to her home. From it she ran a small bakery business. It was learnt that she had recently had a roaring success with a new recipe for mouth-watering tarts that were sold from a stall in front of Chelsea Hospital.

Buckland had someone buy some for him. He tried one and found that it was delicious and had a decidedly more-ish aspect to it. Its flavour was reminiscent of something. He then asked the pharmacy in St George's for a bottle of the cough medicine. He removed its top and took a small swig of the contents. This had the same mouth-watering taste as the tarts had had.

Location: The Lanesborough, 1 Lanesborough Place, SW1X 7TA (red, orange)

See Also: HOSPITALS

Gunter s

Negri s was a celebrated tea rooms. The business was founded in 1757 by Domenico Negri, an Italian pastry cook. His brother-in-law James Gunther joined him in the firm and eventually became its sole proprietor. Mr Gunter renamed the business after himself. He developed a catering concern that furnished refreshments for aristocratic balls and assemblies. His son Robert entered the business and eventually headed it.

During the 1930s Gunter's tea rooms relocated within Mayfair. They closed in the mid-1950s. They were survived by the catering operations.

It is reputed that in the 1830s Gunter's tea shop was the only place in London where an unchaperoned woman could meet decently with a man.

Location: 7-8 Berkeley Square, W1J 6ES (red, pink)

See Also: ESTATES The Gunter Estates

Maison Bertaux

Maison Bertaux is a Patisserie Fran aise that was founded in 1871. It is a much-appreciated establishment.

Location: 28 Greek Street, W1D 5DQ (purple, grey)

Website: www.maisonbertaux.com

Marzipan

Eliza Marchpane (1760-1830) had a career as a courtesan in Paris and Vienna. In the latter city she encountered marzipan. She retired to London where she held a salon. There, the confections that were served featured the paste.

Patisserie Valerie

Patisserie Valerie is a chain of patisseries. The first outlet opened in Frith Street, Soho, in 1926. During the Second World War bomb damage necessitated the business's relocation to Old Compton Street.

Location: 44 Old Compton Street, W1D 4TY (turquoise, yellow)

Website: www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk

Tax

In 1991 the Customs & Excise argued that Jaffa Cakes were a biscuit and that therefore they should be subject to V.A.T. whereas the product's makers stated that they were a cake and that therefore they should be zero-rated. The latter party pointed out that with age they hardened, as cakes do, whereas biscuits soften. The tribunal ruled in the makers favour.

In 2007 the Customs & Excise admitted that for two decades it had been wrongly charging V.A.T. on Marks & Spencer's chocolate tea cakes. This led to the company receiving a multi-million pound refund.

In 2014 in a case brought by Lees of Scotland and Tunnocks, the First Tier Tax Tribunal ruled that snowball snacks were not biscuits and that instead they were cakes, which made them liable to V.A.T.. The essence of the ruling was that they distinctly more crumbly than biscuits were.

Location: McVitie's Factory, 10 Waxlow Road, NW10 7NY

See Also: GRAIN Grain Types and Usage

Website: www.jaffacakes.co.uk

Twelfth Night Cake

In his will the comic actor - and former pastry chef - Robert Baddeley (1733-1794) left a bequest of 100 to be invested so that a Twelfth Night cake and punch should be given to the cast who performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 6 January. It is reputed that he was prompted by the experience of arriving at the theatre one 6 January and finding his colleagues quiet and downcast. Immediately, he had sent out for food and drink in order to try to lift their mood. The practice was instituted in 1796. The cakes furnished in the 21^stC have often been themed to coincide with the current production.

Location: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Catherine Street, WC2B 5JF (red, purple)

Website: www.drurylanefund.com/the-baddeley-cake

David Backhouse 2024