A dripping cake, also known as a dripper, is a traditional
bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
from
Great Britain. The main
ingredients are
dripping,
flour
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...
,
brown sugar,
spices,
currants and
raisins. 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
Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.[Lard]
entry in the o ...
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 schoolchildren.
[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.''"]
Dripping cakes are very rich and sweet, and despite contemporary concerns about high-
calorie
The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...
, high-
fat foods, are still popular.
See also
*
List of British breads
This is a list of bread products made in or originating from Britain. British cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom. Bread prepared from mixed grains was introduced to Great Britain aro ...
*
List of cakes
References
External links
Gloucestershire Chat: Dripping cakes
{{bread-stub
British breads
Sweet breads
Yeast breads