How to Make Cherry Pie — The Victorian Way

Ah, welcome. Today you find me making an ornamental cherry pie suitable for a late summer dinner. For this recipe you will need sweet shortcrust pastry, eggs, whole wheat flour, cherries, butter, cinnamon powder and sugar. Mary-Anne has already made a sweet shortcrust paste and then put it in the oven until it's almost cooked through. If you are going to do this you need to make sure that before you put it in the oven you need to line it with brown paper and then fill it full of flour. That should stop the pastry from bubbling or from slipping. I'm now going to cream together my butter and sugar. I'm using a brown bread biscuit paste based on a sponge cake mix but using whole wheat flour. You could use a savoy mix or one for a fatless sponge. I'm now going to add my egg yolks. I don't often use whole wheat flour but the nutty taste will go really well with cherries. Whole wheat flour has become very popular with those who believe it's good for them and I have read that it is better for you because of the wheat germ. Usual white flour has been milled longer and the wheat germ removed. Mind you, whole wheat flour doesn't last as long because of the wheat germ. I'm now going to whisk my eggs until they form peaks and add them, not forgetting the cinnamon. So I'm now going to layer my biscuit paste with my cherries. Sylvia has de-stoned these cherries which have come from the kitchen garden. Mr Verrett the gardener tells me that cherries are an ancient fruit and probably native to England. There are many different varieties so we can have cherries from May through to the autumn. We have two types of cherries, sweet ones and cooking ones which we call morello. Morellos are my favourite. I think their taste is more superior. I think cherries are wonderful. They can be used as ornaments, put in pies or preserved in brandy or crystallised. Now I'm going to put this in a moderate oven for somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half and then just before it's finished I shall put this last bit of biscuit paste over the top and sprinkle it full of sugar so it forms a nice crust on the top. Now that I've let it cool I'm going to decorate it. This dish will be served after the second course but before the dessert course as a sweet entremet. I think I'm going to add cherries and I'm going to serve it with a jug of custard. There we are, cherry pie.