A Wartime Christmas
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During World War II the cold winter months would have meant misery for so many. Next to food, heating and cooking fuel were the scarcest items in Europe. On the Home Front, people were out long hours working and gathering groceries—one shop with a queue for canned goods, another for meat, another for bread, and so on. When they got home, they needed warmth and nourishment.
Preparing for Christmas in War
Christmas was a bright and shining highlight in these darkest days. For months governments had urged homemakers to preserve extra for winter. As much as possible, they now increased rations of sugar, meat, fats, chocolates and sweets. Vegetables were still required but traditional holiday desserts and treats were great morale boosters. They helped restore some sense of normalcy in the midst of crisis.
The Ministry of Food published numerous recipes to help with the lack of basic ingredients. There were eggless steamed puddings, cakes that worked with coarser whole wheat flour, icing made without butter, mincemeat without fat—I have a blog post for this—and even uncooked cakes!
Experimenting with Christmas Dessert
I decided to try a wartime version of bûche de noël, or yule log. Marguerite Patten’s Victory Cookbook calls it a Christmas Chocolate Log. Because the base of the dessert is a sponge cake, eggs are necessary but reconstituted dried eggs evidently worked in this recipe. That made it perfect for hard times when shell eggs might not have been available.
This recipe had a couple of surprises. First, it did not yield enough batter to cover the bottom of my jelly roll pan. I had to quickly double the recipe. It turned out a sponge layer that was easily rollable without cracking. Unfortunately, it tasted and smelled too much like eggs for us to enjoy. And no wonder—I ended up using six eggs to get enough batter! Even with a single batch of batter, eggs are the predominant ingredient so the final result would likely have been the same.
The icing made this cake extremely sweet. There was no sweet-savory balance. I tried another version using basically the same ingredients in slightly different amounts, and including applesauce. This cake was also easy to roll and much better tasting but the applesauce was too noticeable to work with the chocolate icing.
On to the next version! This one used only a bit more flour and sugar than the original recipe. I added vanilla extract, salt and a bit of liquid. The liquid can be water, milk, plant-based milk or even eggnog!
I also tried a different method of mixing the batter—I used an electric mixer instead of a whisk. This cake was the best tasting but rose highest, more like a Victoria sponge layer than the flatter cake needed for rolling.
The Finer Points of Sponge Cake
After a great deal of research into sponge cakes in general, and eggy-tasting cakes in particular, I learned a few new things about cake.
One is that overcooking or cooking at too low a temperature—leaving the cake in the oven longer—can make it taste or smell more like eggs. Cooking at a higher temperature and getting the cake out faster is best. Sifting the flour to make it as light as possible also helps reduce the risk of eggy cake and using fresh ingredients is a must.
It is difficult to cut the number of eggs when making sponge cake. They are important for texture, density, moisture and the malleability of the cake layer. In a pinch, one of the eggs could be substituted for yogurt or buttermilk but in a sponge cake, this is risky.
From experience I learned that sponge cake batter mixed with a whisk is easier to make into jelly rolls. Besides making a batter that will not rise too much, a whisk helps eliminate the risk of overbeating the eggs—another culprit behind eggy-tasting cake. The batter needs to be mixed thoroughly but not mercilessly.
Finally, creaming the butter and sugar first might help to avoid an egg-flavored sponge cake. This creates air pockets in the batter that make it easiest to fully incorporate the eggs.
A Seasonal Delight
Sponge cake is easy and quick to make—it just needs the right technique, like so many things in baking. During World War II having a sponge cake—or any dessert with eggs—would have been a real treat. Having it taste like cake and not breakfast would have been a bonus.
Homemakers might have saved rationed eggs, sugar and fat for weeks in advance to make a dessert. There was no such thing as cake flour in many places at the time, so it was important to make the whole wheat flour as light as possible by double sifting. Compared to modern-day recipes, though, this wartime version uses minimal amounts of the rationed items.
For making the Christmas Chocolate Log today, using white flour and fresh eggs is best. Using an extra two ounces of sugar and three ounces of flour will yield enough batter for a 10”x15” jelly roll pan. I am including the original recipe plus my variation in case you would like to make this pretty dessert for your holiday celebration. It is a one-bowl cake that children could help with, including decorating. The end result is a delightfully whimsical nod to the beauty of this season.
Christmas Chocolate Log
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and grease well.
- Set aside 2 teaspoons of sugar. In a large bowl, use a whisk to cream butter or margarine and remaining sugar.
- Add eggs and whisk to thoroughly combine.
- Add vanilla extract and your choice of liquid. Mix well.
- Sift flour and salt together; then, add to liquid ingredients. Use a spatula to gently but thoroughly fold in the dry ingredients.
- Turn batter into lined jelly roll pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or until cake is slightly firm and springy to touch.
- Sprinkle a sheet of parchment paper or a silicone mat with the two teaspoons of reserved sugar. Turn sponge layer out onto the paper or mat and remove cooking paper. Cover evenly with jam or preserves; then, firmly roll and allow to set until completely cooled.
- Set aside two teaspoons of confectioners' sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk three ounces of butter or margarine until soft.
- Sift the remaining confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder together. Add to the butter and mix thoroughly, adding coffee as needed to get a rather stiff yet pliable icing.
- Place cake on a serving platter. Spread icing over cake. Use a fork to make ridges along the the cake, to look like a tree trunk. Sift the two teaspoons of confectioners' sugar over the log. Decorate with fresh holly and cherries.
References
Patten, Marguerite. Victory Cookbook: Nostalgic Food and Facts 1940-1954. London: Chancellor Press. 2014.
“And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”
1 John 3:23