This weekend we will witness a rare event, on May 6th we will see the coronation of a new king, King Charles III. He was a very young boy when he attended his mother’s coronation in 1953 and now nearly exactly seventy years later it is his turn.
I heard a cute story Charles has been reported to have shared about how he started to realize as a small child that his mother wasn’t a typical mother when in the weeks prior to her coronation she would pop into the nursery for her evening visit wearing the coronation crown. She was getting used to wearing the heavy crown in her off time. (She probably had to strengthen her neck muscles as the crown weighs about 2.5 kg) That apparently meant wearing it even when the nanny was giving the kids a bath. I agree that is not typical, my mom never wore a crown around the house and certainly wouldn’t trust us not to accidentally splash the crown and ruin it.
I was antiquing again recently and found a church women’s recipe collection from 1953 called Coronation Cook Book from a church in Kitchener. It is a lovely walk down memory lane and of course all the mid-century favourites are in it. There are recipes for pineapple desserts, tuna casseroles, jellied salads and candies. I wanted to share a few of these fascinating recipes so you have time to prepare them before the coronation. Perhaps you have a tea party planned already.
Coronation Cake
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chopped raisins or dates
1/2 tsp nutmeg and cloves
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in sour cream
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add cream and dry ingredients. Bake in a moderate oven for half and hour until baked.
I love the “until baked”! My research says a moderate oven is between 350 and 375 degrees F. I haven’t tried this recipe but it looks like a light fruit cake. I am sure it would be delightful with some tea.
The next recipe is very complicated so perhaps just for your reading pleasure but it was titled Kings’s Ring so I had to include it. 
As I said, it looks complicated but I bet it is delicious and attractive when served.
A classic recipe for tea parties is scones. Usually served with butter or clotted cream and jam they are very British. I remember what a treat they were on my first trip to the UK. They were part of an afternoon tea served on fine bone china on Air Canada in economy. That’s how long ago that trip was.
Scones
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c raisins
Directions:
Beat egg white and fill cup with milk. Use beaten egg yolk to spread on unbaked scones. Cream sugar and shortening and add dry ingredients alternately with milk. Form into scones and brush with egg yolk. Bake in moderate (350 F) oven for about 15 minutes until top is golden brown.
This recipe is easy to switch up with different fruit, nuts or spices. You could try fresh blueberries or dried cranberries, walnuts or orange peel. If you can’t find clotted cream, cream cheese would also work with jam. I would suggest you serve them with Earl Grey tea.
The last dessert idea I am going to share with you is a show stopper of a confection fit for a king. It is of course a trifle. A trifle is made up of several layers of jellied and fresh fruit, custard or marscapone cheese, cake and or wafers and whipped cream. Historically trifles were quite labour intensive but looked very pretty on the tea table. I was inspired by a Battenburg Trifle I saw online. But as I read more about all the made from scratch layers and a 12 hour estimate for how long it takes to make and assemble the layers, I decided to do what my mother would have done. I am going to suggest using mid-century inventions like jello, pudding and canned fruit. You just need any kind of fruit, jello, cake, pudding and whipped cream and a big glass bowl. This is not an exacting recipe.
By the way, Battenburg cake is a classic British dessert on its own. It comes from the late Victorian age. As you can see from the picture it is made of two kinds of cake cut into long rectangular pieces and put back together with jam or icing into this checkerboard pattern. The outside icing is made with marzipan, stiff enough to hold all of the pieces together.
Once you have the Battenburg cake you just made or the substitute you made or bought you can begin. Make sure the flavours of fruit, jello, pudding and cake you have chosen will blend well together. Here are my suggestions from classic trifle recipes.
Quick and EasyTrifle
Ingredients :
1 pkg of strawberry jello
1 pkg of instant vanilla pudding
1 can of sliced peaches
1 small cake
1 pkg fresh strawberries
1 pkg of fresh raspberries
1 pkg cool whip
1 pkg of sliced almonds
Directions:
Prepare the jello and pudding according to directions on the box. Chop peaches and strawberries into bite sized pieces. Keep back some whole fruit to decorate the top of the trifle. Cut cake into slices. You are ready to build the trifle.
Layer 1: Take a large glass bowl. Cover the bottom with cake.
Layer 2: Add a layer of mixed fruit and then with jello.
Layer 3: Add a layer of pudding.
Layer 4: Repeat adding layers until your bowl is almost full.
Top layer: Add whipped cream and whole pieces of fruit and nuts to decorate the top.
Refrigerate until serving. Serve soon after making as the trifle may get soggy if it sits in the fridge for a long time.
I hope you enjoyed these coronation themed recipes and my interpretation of a mid-century trifle. Long live the King and British desserts!