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Castle Baskets
6 castle puddings 4 ounces red currant jelly 3 gills of cream 3 ounces of angelica Juice of 1/2 lemon 2 ounces cocoanut 1 tablespoon sugar Take the castle puddings, which should be a day old, carefully scoop out the middle, roll them in a little jelly then in the cocoanut, so that they are well covered. Whip the cream with the sugar until thick; add the lemon juice and fill the baskets with this. Cut the angelica into long strips, and form the handles to the baskets. Serve cold.
An assembly job rather than a cooked dish: six small sponge puddings hollowed into cups, glazed and coated, then filled with whipped cream. The only real difficulty is that the base component is assumed rather than given.
- Castle puddingsThese are small steamed or baked sponge puddings cooked in dariole moulds — a plain creamed sponge of equal weights butter, sugar, egg and flour, turned out tall and slightly tapered. Any firm cupcake or madeleine-style sponge baked in straight-sided moulds will stand in; the shape matters more than the formula because it has to hold cream without collapsing.
- A gillHalf a cup (4 fl oz) in American measure; in British measure a gill is 5 fl oz, a quarter pint. Three gills is therefore somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 cups of cream, and cream roughly doubles in volume when whipped -- generous for six small baskets, so expect leftovers or fill them high.
- Day-old is not fussinessFresh sponge tears when you scoop it and turns to paste under jelly. A day of drying firms the crumb enough to hollow cleanly with a teaspoon or a small melon baller, leaving walls about half an inch thick.
- Thinning the jellyRed currant jelly straight from the jar will not roll onto a sponge. Warm the four ounces gently until it is just pourable, then brush or dip; if it sets hard before the coconut goes on, the coconut will not stick.
- CocoanutDesiccated (dried, finely shredded) coconut, not the sweetened flake sold for cakes and not fresh. Modern sweetened flake is wetter and coarser and will slide off in patches.
- AngelicaCandied stems of Angelica archangelica, sold in bright green lengths, once a standard confectioner's decoration and now a specialty item. Soften the strips briefly in warm water so they bend into handles without snapping; candied citrus peel cut in strips is the usual substitute.
- Lemon in the creamFollow the recipe's order: whip the cream with the sugar until thick, then add the juice and fold it in rather than beating on.
- Yield and holdingSix baskets, one per person. Assemble no more than two or three hours ahead and keep refrigerated — the cream weeps into the sponge and the coconut goes soft if it sits overnight.
Castle puddings belong to the Victorian and Edwardian repertoire of small moulded sponges, baked or steamed in dariole tins; the name is generally explained by the little turret shape they turn out in, though that explanation is traditional rather than documented. They normally appeared hot with jam sauce or custard. Turning them cold into "baskets" -- hollowed, glazed with currant jelly, rolled in coconut and given a candied angelica handle -- fits the period's fondness for dishes that imitate objects. It also makes practical use of yesterday's puddings, though the recipe gives no reason for the day-old requirement beyond the firmness it produces.