Tottenham Cake Recipe
The simple but mighty cake from North London
Tottenham Cake is a simple, moist sponge cake. Baked as a traybake and covered with fruit flavoured glaze icing. It's mostly found in North or the East End of London and has a great history.
So many people, well actually most people, don't really know what Tottenham Cake is. But work or live in North or the East end of London and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
I worked in Hackney, in London’s East end for over 10 years, and was lucky to regularly enjoy delights from Percy Ingles Bakery, from ‘down the Roman Road’….and wow did they have some yummy delights. Percy Ingles is a household name in Hackney, but step away from the Capital and few people will know what you’re talking about. It is a family bakery with over 50 shops in London and makes a great classic Tottenham Cake.
Tottenham Cake has real history. It was first made in the late 1800’s by a Baker called Henry Chalkley, who was a Quaker. He baked it in long trays and cut it into cubes which were sold for 1 penny a slice – off cuts and dodgy looking slices were sold for half a penny. As a Quaker, Henry kept the cake simple but tasty. The pink icing was reportedly made from Mulberries that grew in the garden of The Tottenham Friends Meeting House.
In 1901 Tottenham Hotspur’s won the FA Cup, and to celebrate children in the area were given a cube of cake for free…..now that’s my kind of celebration! Sadly, Mulberries aren’t quite as easy to come by, and most of today’s icing is made pink by colouring. But made well, it’s a cake that you just can’t resist. It’ll take you back to being 7 years old again.
After a bit of research, I found a few historic recipes and made my own. I combined and tweaked them, to make what I hope is a great, classic Tottenham Cake. It’s slightly denser than a normal sponge and is sweet and moist from the syrup that’s poured on it while warm. I used a high-concentrate, low sugar Summer Berry Squash for the icing, which gives it an extra fruity zing.
There are ingredient and technique notes after the recipe.
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Tottenham Cake Recipe
Makes 1 x 8” Square Traybake
Tottenham Cake Ingredients
170gms (3/4 cup) Caster or Granulated Sugar
150gms (3/4 cup) Flavourless Oil or 170gms (3/4 cup) Room Temperature Butter or Baking Spread
1tspn Vanilla Extract or Paste
3 Eggs
230gms (2 cups) Plain Flour
2tspn Baking Powder
Syrup Ingredients
50ml (3tbspn) Cold Water
2tbsn Icing Sugar
Icing Ingredients
150-200gms ( 1 to 1 1/2 cups)Icing Sugar
1-2tbspn Fruit Squash or Cordial
Tottenham Cake Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 160c fan, 180c, 350f, GM 3
Line a baking tray - an 8" square or brownie tin is ideal. Line it so the paper comes up out of the sides
Either with an electric mixer using the paddle attachment, or in a bowl using a hand mixer, cream together the sugar and oil/butter until light and fluffy
Add the vanilla and mix through
Add the eggs one at a time, adding a small spoon of the flour if it starts to curdle
Beat everything together until light in colour
Now, by hand, fold in the remaining of the flour until all incorporated
Pour into the baking tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until light and golden, and a skewer stuck into the centre comes out clean
One baked remove from the oven and place to one side while you make the syrup
Mix together the icing sugar and water until the sugar is fully dissolved
Whilst the cake is still hot in the tin spoon the syrup all over the sponge and allow to cool.
Mix together the icing sugar and fruit squash until you have a very thick pouring consistency. I would mix 1 tablespoon at a time of the squash or you’ll adding extra icing sugar to get it thick again
Spread over your cake and allow to set.
Ingredient Notes
Essentially this is a classic sponge cake recipe consisting of butter/baking spread, sugar, eggs, and flour. Although you can swap out the butter/baking spread for oil if you’d prefer a dairy free cake. It is slightly denser due to a higher proportion of flour than most sponges, but it’s extra moist because of the syrup you pour onto it when it’s baked.
Fat
I prefer to use flavourless oil, such as rapeseed, in my cakes. However, if you are a more traditional baker you can use butter or baking spread.
Sugar and Vanilla Flavour
Use a white sugar in this recipe. I used granulated but caster will work as well.
Vanilla is an important part to the flavour of this cake. Vanilla extract or paste is best for a natural vanilla flavour. Essence is ok, but the flavour may be a little more artificial.
Eggs
I used UK medium free-range eggs.
Flour and Raising Agent
As with most of my recipes I use plain (all purpose) flour with baking powder for better control over the raising agent. However, you can use self-raising flour and omit the baking powder.
This cake can be made using a Gluten free flour. Add Xanthan Gum (to the manufacturers instructions) for better structure.
Syrup Ingredients
This cake has a sugar syrup poured over it to give it extra moistness, similar to what you would use on a lemon drizzle cake. Use an icing sugar to give a clean sugary flavour. Granulated or caster sugar can be used but will give a crunchy topping as the crystals may not dissolve so well.
Icing Ingredients
Traditionally Tottenham Cake was glazed with Mulberry Juice Icing. However, Mulberries are pretty tricky to come by nowadays. You can use either a simple icing sugar and water glaze icing with pink food colouring. Or, if you are looking for something a little fruitier you can add some fruit cordial to icing sugar, which I did.
Tottenham Cake FAQs
Should Tottenham Cake have Coconut on top?
In all the years I ate Tottenham Cake made by the East end bakery Percy Ingles, I never had coconut on top of it.
Many recipes do include sprinkling it with desiccated coconut. I’m sure it’s just personal preference. Personally, I don’t like the texture of it so would never include it. But if you like a bit of desiccated coconut, then go ahead and sprinkle it on!
How to store Tottenham Cake?
Tottenham Cake, with its syrup, is a lovely moist cake. It will keep for several days. I recommend popping it in an airtight container to retain the moisture.
It can also be frozen for up to 3 months if well wrapped. However, I would recommend freezing it before you ice it with the glaze. When you want to eat it, remove it from the freezer and allow it to come back to temperature on a wire rack, and unwrap once it is fully defrosted.
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