Middle Ages

In the medieval period baking was a luxury few were able to enjoy. But those who could afford
a wood-burning stove (and to heat it) would start with bread. The better the quality, the higher
up the social order you were

Ovens were not a standard fixture in any household, so bread-baking never really entered the
home in the medieval period, says Pennell. It was a niche, commercial activity. For example,
you had bread-bakers in London.

Rich people ate fine, floured wheat bread. But if you were poor you cut your teeth on rye and
black bread, says Walter. Only the very wealthy ate the cakes we tend to think of today. But
they were much heavier – 10 to 20lbs. This was subsistence-focused baking, with an emphasis
on bread and pies.

“If you were wealthy, your baked goods would be rich in exotic colour. But if you were poor,
you were grateful if you could afford meat for your pie,” says Walter.

15th century

Britain saw an
explosion of expensive
spices, such as saffron,
in the 15th century.
Sweet dough, with lots
of cream and butter,
started to be enjoyed
by those who could
afford it

The wigg – a small bun made with sweetened dough and herbs and spices – became
popular.But mince pies were made with minced beef or mutton, and biscuits were “the
equivalent of Ryvita – pretty nasty
stuff,” says Walter.

Meanwhile, gingerbread was

made with breadcrumbs.
Mince pies were made with minced beef or mutton in the 15th century. (Photo by Neil
McAllister/Alamy Stock Photo)16th and 17th centuries

Baking was transformed in the 16th and 17th centuries by globalisation, which heralded an
explosion of treacle and currants. Plump cake and bready dough with lots of butter, cream and
raisins became popular

Economic growth prompted an emerging middle class, and baking ‘trickled down’, says Walter.
Amid growing wealth and social change, people could think about eating things other than
bread, and imitate the upper-class diet.

Baking became more accessible, and so more people started to bake cakes and biscuits.

By the late 17th century sugar was cheap, and so you saw the emergence of mince pies as we
know them, made with sugar and spices. And with the refinement of flour you saw the
development of gingerbread as we know it.

An illustration depicting the preparation of

bread, printed in 1695. (Photo by Culture
Club/Getty Images)

From the 16th century came the first

cookery literature, in which you start to see
recipes for things we might recognise today
as small, yeasted cakes and buns, says
Pennell. They would be eaten as part of the
dessert course, to help you digest the rich
meal you had eaten beforehand.

You also started to see the emergence of

kitchen equipment, such as the ‘cake hoop’ – that is, a cake tin. The tin was lined with buttered
paper.

But cakes were made with ale and were very solid. The modern-day equivalent, in terms of the
yeast-bread-based dough, would be a lardy cake. Seed cakes were also popular.

Pastries, too, were considered fashionable in the late 17th century. The English prided
themselves on their pastry-making and it was considered a skill all good housewives should
have, says Pennell. London cookery schools also began to teach pastry-making – it was a
fashionable skill.
An advertisement poster for Coombs’ aerated pastry flour. (Photo by mooziic/Alamy Stock
Photo)

18th century

Cake-making soared in popularity in the 18th century, but the industrial revolution from 1760
saw a return to more stodgy baked goods

The 18th century was when cake-making really took off, says Dr Pennell.

The Art of Cookery, written by Hannah Glasse and published in 1747, contained a catalogue of
cake recipes. Integral to this was the development of the semi-closed oven. “The development
of baking is as much to do with technology as it is taste,” says Pennell.

Fast-forward to the industrial revolution and Britain saw a return to heavy baking, where the
working class ate bread and jam, says Walter. But at Easter, Christmas and other seasonal
occasions, a richer diet would be available to even the poorer members of society.

Merchants and shopkeepers could afford ovens by the 18th century, and to bake.

19th century

Convenience food grew in popularity in the 19th

century, and the advent of baking powder saw cakes
become lighter

As more working-class women were employed in the

19th century, they had less time for elaborate food
preparation, says Walter. “We often think of the ‘fast
food culture’ as being a recent thing, but women in
Britain in the 19th century increasingly relied on convenience food such as pasties and pies.”

Meanwhile, the introduction of baking powder saw the style of cakes change from dense,
yeast-based bakes, into cakes made with flour, eggs, fat and a raising agent.

Professor John Walter is Emeritus Professor in the Department of History at the University of
Essex, specialising in popular political culture in early modern England.

Dr Sara Pennell is a senior history lecturer at the University of Greenwich who specialises in
social and cultural histories of 17th and 18th-century Britain, with particular interests in food
cultures, health and architecture.