In terms of its
storyline, ‘Interrupted Journey’ (1949) is possibly the worst film I have ever
seen. I can’t bring myself to describe it to you, it’s so laborious. It starts
off right enough, but towards the end, it really does go to pot. The film stars Valerie Hobson and Richard
Todd. Valerie is stunningly beautiful
throughout, but I’m afraid that this doesn’t rescue the utter shambles.
The one bright
moment is an appearance by Dora Bryan. She never puts in a bad performance and
I always like to see her. She plays a waitress in the Paddington Station
buffet, where she flogs Richard and his mistress a coffee and a rock cake each.
This was the end of Dora’s delightfully distracted cameo, and so there was no
more to do than to fall into a rock cake reverie. I began to wonder why the
rock cake is so ubiquitous in 1940s culture. Were there a plate of them on
offer in Joyce Carey’s ‘Brief Encounter’ buffet? I feel sure there must have
been. They certainly appear in my
favourite book ‘One Fine Day’ by Mollie Panter-Downes (1947). Here they are referred to as “rock keeks” by
the snooty bakery assistant – and this is how I always pronounce them to myself
after reading that (using Joyce Carey’s 1940s voice).
I followed up my
viewing of ‘Interrupted Journey’ with a baking session – having found a rock
keek recipe in my old 1950s Good Housekeeping cookbook. The recipe was simple:
7 oz Self
Raising Flour
3 oz Butter or
Marg
3oz Sugar
3oz Dried Mixed Fruit
Small egg
Drop of milk
Sprinkle of
nutmeg/mixed spice
Just mix it all
up, stick a few splats on a flat baking tray and shove them in a hot oven for
15 minutes.
Bit too much milk, should be a bit rockier shaped, but you get the idea |
The verdict was
a good one. My notoriously picky
children, who drive me to distraction with their weird food attitudes (I’ve got
one that doesn’t like custard and ice cream, for pity’s sake), shovelled them
down like there was no tomorrow. I was able to take one to work for my morning snack for a few days after they were baked. They were so easy to make and they were plain
but filling. So I suppose that the answer to the question of why the rock cake
was a rationing era stalwart is as follows:
·
Quick
and easy to do, no matter how long you’ve been awake fire-watching and queueing
for dried eggs you won’t go wrong.
·
Low
on ingredients – nothing fancy. These
things are mostly flour and you can probably get away with dried egg and water
in them with enough flavouring
·
They
can be shoved in the oven with something else and then last for quite a few
days afterwards (I made another batch that was still fine 3 days later)
I will be baking
more rock keeks. They are very suitable for our new modern day frugality.
Click here to go to my Amazon page
***
Now that we've done baking I'd just like to carry on with the domestic goddess in a headscarf and curlers attitude. I've done a new book all about sewing with those iconic Sylko bobbins. You can buy it now on Amazon. Some very nice things have been said about it:Click here to go to my Amazon page
Is it terrible that this makes me want to bake rock 'keeks' and see how awful ‘Interrupted Journey’ is? ;)
ReplyDeleteLiz
Not at all! Interrupted Journey is still probably better than a lot of modern films. And I've done several batches of rock keeks since writing this. They keep me going at work.
ReplyDeleteI've made these rock cakes several times since I came across this (fantastic) blog and here is the latest batch: https://www.instagram.com/p/BF7DqQqi6iB/ Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFantastic Hazel, thanks for sharing.
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