Difficulty: 2
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: None
Number of servings: 8-10
Serving suggestions: Serve in small pieces as this is very sweet.
Nowadays, birthday cakes of all kinds can be bought from supermarkets and bakeries. Post-war that was not the case. Very special cakes, like wedding cakes, could be ordered from the baker - these would all have been rich fruit cakes.
Children's cakes were made at home. By the 70's, there were a lot more convenience foods available, which meant, for example, that the chocolate swiss roll, that is the basis for this cake, could be bought, not made, as could the smaller chocolate covered rolls. Because of this, it became much easier and quicker to make birthday cakes that reflected the child's interests or favourite characters.
Books and magazines of the time carried lots of recipes showing how to make a huge variety of popular children's cakes for birthdays quite easily and quickly, with ingredients that could be bought already made.
For images of the cooking process see our Train Cakes Images.
With thanks to Caroline Cuerden, The Hair Company for their help with this podcast.