Eggless Ginger Cake with Chocolate Icing

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye
Cheerio, here I go, on my way

Harry Parr-Davies

Growing up, I wanted to be Vicky Dean from A Country Practice.  I didn't mind that she was a grown woman who regularly sported pigtails and whose wardrobe largely comprised khaki overalls and wellies.  She was a vet, which meant she was smart and loved animals; she lived in the country; and she drove a hulking four wheel drive.  I decided that was the life for me! 

When Vicky married Dr Simon Bowen, they played Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye at their wedding reception as the going away song.  It made a huge impression on me, as I have remembered it all these years later.  With the advent of the Internet, it is easy to find out what was the song and the lyrics.  I just had to wait over a decade to do so.

Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye was originally sung by Gracie Fields for a movie, but the song was adopted during World War II as a song for the troops.  With that in mind, I decided to give a recipe from Marguerite Patten's Victory Cookbook a spin. I selected her Eggless Ginger Cake, which is featured in the Street Parties chapter, mainly because it sounded quick and easy and I had all of the ingredients.  The recipe is as follows:

175g plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

50g margarine

50g sugar

6 tablespoons milk

3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons of vinegar

Grease and flour an 8" cake tin, and pre-heat your oven to 190C.

Sift the flour and baking powder with the ginger into a mixing bowl.  Rub in the margarine with your finger tips, mix in the sugar and then the milk.

Blend the bicarbonate of soda and the vinegar together, then beat into the cake mixture.

Spoon the cake batter into the tin (I pressed it in as it is like a dough!) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through. 

Unfortunately, when baked, this cake had the look and texture of a large ginger scone, so I decided to make some icing for it.  In trying to stay authentic, I used this recipe involving golden syrup, margarine and cocoa powder.  The icing tasted a little odd, but on the ginger cake, it just gave it a bit of oomph of flavour.  It's just a little unfortunate that it looks like Vegemite. 

This was a fun experiment in wartime cookery, but not one I'll be repeating.

I will be starting a new chapter myself next week - wish me luck!