There’s a long history of cake-making in Britain. One famous cake story goes all the way back to
+
to go all the way back to:
remontarse hasta
the Anglo-Saxon period. In the late 9th century, Alfred, the King of England, was hiding
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to hide:
esconderse
from Viking attackers and took refuge in the home of a peasant
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peasant:
campesina
woman. Not realising
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to realise:
darse cuenta
that her visitor was the king, the woman asked Alfred to watch the cakes she was baking
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to bake:
hornear
over the fire. But Alfred, lost in his worries
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worries:
preocupaciones
, forgot the cakes and let them burn
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to burn:
quemarse
. History has never forgiven
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to forgive:
perdonar
him and Alfred the Great, despite
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despite:
a pesar de
his many victories as king, is more often remembered as “the king who burnt the cakes.”
BIGGER AND LIGHTER Through
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through:
a lo largo de
the Mediaeval period there are plenty
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plenty:
multitud
of references to cakes, although they were more like bread rolls
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bread rolls:
panecillos
or biscuits
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biscuits:
galletas
than the large sliceable
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sliceable:
que se corta en porciones
delicacies we see in magazines and on TV shows. Oats
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oats:
avena
were often used in these small, heavy cakes, possibly sweetened with a little honey
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honey:
miel
. Elizabethan cakes got creative with nuts
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nuts:
frutos secos
and dried fruit
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dried fruit:
fruta deshidratada
and in the 17th century, bakers stopped using yeast
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yeast:
levadura
and began beating
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to beat:
batir
air into the cake mixture to make it lighter. Then in the 18th century, bakers began attempting to
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to attempt to:
tratar de
make bigger cakes, lightened with beaten egg.
TIME FOR TEA But it wasn’t until the mid to late 19th century, when white flour
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flour:
harina
, sugar and baking powder
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baking powder:
levadura en polvo
were readily available, that the tradition of afternoon tea became fashionable. Upper-class ladies would meet for a light meal at around 4pm, where they would drink tea, accompanied by tiny
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tiny:
pequeño, diminuto
sandwiches and cake.
Today not many people in Britain stop for a formal afternoon tea, but a ‘cuppa
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cuppa:
taza de té (cup of tea)
’ and a piece of cake always go down well.
Best British Cakes Desde galletas de mantequilla hasta bollos clásicos y pasteles más
1 Victoria sponge
This most English of cakes was named after
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to name after:
ser nombrado en honor a
its biggest fan, Queen Victoria. Although the recipe seems simple, it’s vital to weigh
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to weigh:
pesar
the ingredients precisely. You need four eggs and the same weight of sugar, butter, and flour. Plus, of course, some jam
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jam:
mermelada
to spread
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to spread:
extender
in the middle.
2 Chelsea buns
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buns:
bollos
This sticky
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sticky:
pegajoso
, buttery bun made with currants
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currants:
uvas pasas
and brown sugar used to be a favourite with the British royal family in the 18th century. The buns were first made at a bakery called the Bun House in London’s Chelsea district, hence
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hence:
de ahí
the name. Still a delicious energy boost
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boost:
impulso
with a cup of coffee.
3 Scones
Serve scones warm with thick clotted cream
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clotted cream:
nata coagulada
and jam and you have a traditional cream tea, guaranteed to raise
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to raise:
elevar
both your spirits and your cholesterol! But does scone rhyme
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rhyme:
rimar
with ‘gone’ or with ‘bone’? Disagreements over the pronunciation can get aggressive. In my house, it rhymes with ‘gone’.
4 Scottish shortbread
The delicious buttery biscuit we enjoy today started out in the 12th century as a much simpler biscuit of hard-baked
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hard-baked:
horneada hasta endurecer
left-over dough
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left-over dough:
masa sobrante
. Over the years it became richer, with more butter, a treat served for weddings
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weddings:
bodas
and feast days. The best shortbread undoubtedly comes from Scotland.
5 Welsh cakes
Another regional speciality, this time from Wales. Traditionally cooked on a hot stone
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stone:
piedra
rather than in the oven, this small cake is like a scone with currants. Small and solid enough to fit into a pocket
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to fit into a pocket:
caber en el bolsillo
, the cakes used to bring some comfort to Welsh miners as they laboured underground, digging coal
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to dig coal:
excavar carbón
.
