Mary Poppins makes Dundee Cake with Pineapple

Mary Poppins in the Kitchen: A Cookery Book with a Story, P. L. Travers and Maurice Moore-Betty (culinary consultant), illustrated by Mary Shepard 1975 London

Dundee Cake

125g butter, softened; 125g granulated sugar; 3 eggs; 100g plain flour; 100g raisins; 100g currants; 3 tblspn mixed glazed fruits (I used glacé pineapple and ginger, and crystallised mango); 2 tblsp flour to be mixed with the fruits; loaf tin, approx. 18cm x 8cm

Heat the oven to 150°C, 300°F, gas mark 2.

Line the bottom and sides of tin with greaseproof paper. If it is not the non-sticking kind, coat it lightly with butter.

Beat the butter and sugar together – this is called creaming – till lemon coloured and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat strenuously after each one. Stir in the flour little by little and beat again. There is a lot of beating, and you may need help. Take turns.

In a separate bowl mix all the fruits together. Sprinkle with the flour and mix thoroughly so that each individual piece of fruit is well coated. This will prevent the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the pan as the cake bakes. Stir the fruit into the batter and spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 2 ¼ hours in the middle of the oven. Look at it after half an hour, and if it becomes too dark on top, cover it with brown paper – a paper bag will do – or foil. Test it with a toothpick. It is cooked when the toothpick, stuck into the middle of the cake, comes out dry. Cool and turn out on a wire tray.

Mary Poppins and the children cook pineapple fritters

Mary Poppins in the Kitchen: A Cookery Book with a Story, P. L. Travers and Maurice Moore-Betty (culinary consultant), illustrated by Mary Shepard 1975 London

   ‘ “Where shall we begin?” said Jane.

   “At the beginning,” said Mary Poppins. “First of all you wash your hands, and then you remember three useful things. Always let me switch on the stove, keep away from steaming kettles, and never use the sharper knives unless I am standing by.”

   “Yes, Mary Poppins,” they said gravely. And then they were set to work.’

Pineapple Fritters

THE BATTER: 75g (2/3 cup) flour; ½ tsp salt; 40ml (2 tblsp) oil – salad or olive – or melted butter; 120ml beer or lukewarm water; 1 large egg white

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil or melted butter. Draw the flour in from the sides while you add the beer or water a little at a time. When half has been added, beat thoroughly and add the other half. Allow the batter to rest for an hour. Just before you want to use it, beat the egg white till stiff and fold it into the batter.

1 can of pineapple rings; 3 – 4 tblsp butter

Dry the pineapple rings in paper or a clean cloth. Heat the butter in a heavy pan and, when hot, di rings into batter to coat evenly. Cook in hot butter till golden brown – about two minutes on each side. Lift our and drain on paper.

Sprinkle with sugar and serve hot as a dessert.