Dripping cake

Dripping cakes, also known as Drippers, are a traditional bread from Great Britain. The main ingredients are dripping, flour, brown sugar, spices, currants and raisins.^[1] The ingredients are mixed thoroughly and baked in an oven.

Variations of dripping cake can be found in Wales, and in parts of England including Gloucestershire and Yorkshire. In Gloucestershire the dripping is allowed to form a toffee-like layer at the base of the cake. It can be confused with the Lardy cake, which is very similar apart from the principal ingredient being lard instead of beef dripping.

As dripping is left over from cooking a joint of meat, it is economical and filling, and has long been a popular snack with schoolboys.^[2] Dripping cakes are very rich and sweet, and despite contemporary concerns about high-calorie, high-fat foods, are still popular.

External links

• Gloucestershire Chat: Dripping cakes

References

1. ^ http://thefoody.com/baking/drippingcake.html The Foody - Farmhouse Dripping Cake
2. ^ Hughes, Thomas: Tom Brown's Schooldays, 1857: "...Tom, by a sort of instinct, knew the right cupboards in the kitchen and pantry, and soon managed to place on the snuggery table better materials for a meal than had appeared there probably during the reign of his tutor, who was then and there initiated, amongst other things, into the excellence of that mysterious condiment, a dripping-cake. The cake was newly baked, and all rich and flaky; Tom had found it reposing in the cook's private cupboard, awaiting her return; and as a warning to her they finished it to the last crumb."