August 29: WI Centenary Celebration Cake

2015 is the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Women's Institute in Britain.  The WI emerged after the women's suffrage movement as a reaction to the changing role of women both inside and outside the home.  The WI emphasized food and cooking; home economics for the nascent 20th century.  With the onset of the first World War, the emphasis of the WI expanded to encourage women in home sewing, growing food gardens, and canning.  The organization has chapters all over Great Britain with a traditional motto of "for home and country."  After the wars of the first half of the century, the WI continued to model home economics, but also emerged as a charitable service organization.  The modern motto of the WI is "Inspiring Women" and the inspiring story of some of the inspiring women is the reason for my cake choice this week.

In the late 1990's, members of the Knapely, England WI posed-for and published a pin-up calendar to raise money for the relatives' room in the cancer wing of a local hospital.  The effort was dear to the hearts of the WI chapter due to the loss of a member's husband to Leukemia.  The middle-aged women caused a stir (and much global press) by posing nude and raised enough money to support an entire wing of the hospital.  These women inspired a feature film, Calendar Girls, starring Helen Mirren in 2003.

A play of the same name was developed by the screenwriter and has been running in London.  The southeast US premiere of Calendar Girls opens in one week at  Georgia Ensemble Theatre with costumes designed by yours truly.  It has been a busy and sleep-deprived week for me with our first dress rehearsal taking place tonight.  Ticket sales have been brisk and the run has already been extended.

While the message of the play is poignant, the show is hilarious and heartwarming.  It even contains more than a few jokes related to baked goods.  In one scene, the winner of a Victoria Sponge baking contest is asked the secret to her baking success, she claims to follow her mother's baking advice:  "Line the bowl with butter... Always use a warm spoon... And if it's a special event, get it from Marks and Spencers."

In celebration of the anniversary of the WI and my show, I made the Centenary Celebration Cake from the WI Cookbook - The First 100 Years.  The recipe won a contest in 2014 to be the cake presented at the 100th Annual General Meeting earlier this year.  After looking up the American equivalent to "gas mark 3" for the baking temperature, I was ready to join the WI ladies in their celebration.

It is a very rich cake with deceptively simple appearance.  It contains pounds of fruit, citrus zest, ground almonds and rum.  There are so many currants inside (14 ounces!) that it is more fruit than cake.  Everyone at our house would probably have chosen another cake to celebrate a big anniversary; the cake is fruitcake-like without being cloying, but is not our favorite.  My Victoria Sponge (January 17) was more more popular with my audience.


Honestly, I am not sure how I will manage to bake a cake this coming weekend with my ten-out-of-twelve (hours) rehearsal on Saturday.  The nearest Marks and Spencer is in England, so I will have to find the time to bake!

Next Saturday: Five Flavor Cake