Tottenham Cake is a classic recipe that’s been around for at least 100 years. It’s a basic sponge cake topped with pink icing, although how exactly those two elements are made has changed over time and is open to interpretation.
Tottenham Cake achieved global fame when it was featured on Great British Bake Off back in 2013. It’s hard to believe this simple sponge cake with its distinctive icing was featured on the show, but we’re thrilled it did!
We say simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s not delicious!
What is Tottenham Cake
Tottenham Cake is a simple, tasty, light sponge cut into squares or rectangles. The sponge used for Tottenham Cake is very similar to School Sponge Cake, which was served across the country for school dinners in the 70s and 80s. You can find a recipe for that here.
The difference between the two is the topping. Tottenham Cake has a bright pink topping made from icing that initially got its colour from local mulberry bushes. Now it’s more often from pink food colouring or possibly from raspberries or another berry that produces a pink colour.
Combine the two, icing and sponge, and you have a tasty cake that is both perfectly simple and simply perfect. Ideal for birthdays, school fetes and the like!
Why make Tottenham Cake?
Tottenham cake has a much richer history than just featuring on GBBO and has a story that we loved finding out about, and that’s how we came to make our recipe for it. It’s not Scottish, of course, but it is a British classic.
It’s an easy cake to make, and it makes a big batch so you have plenty to share for an occasion. It’s a great one to make with kids who love colourful icing, and it’s really tasty too!
First, though, we had to address one thing…
Sonja, who makes up 50% of Scottish Scran, can’t pronounce Tottenham Cake. She can say cake, obviously, but she struggles with Tottenham as she struggles with Worcester. So first things first, here’s how to say it!
How to pronounce Tottenham
People from England, especially Londoners, pronounce Tottenham with 2 syllables, like this:
TOT-nim
However, those not in the know often pronounce Tottenham with 3 syllables. Like this:
Tott-in-ham or Tott-in-im.
Sonja is guilty of the last one for sure! But we’re working on it…
What is the history of Tottenham Cake?
Tottenham Cake’s name tells part of its story, straight away links with a very well-known football team and an area of North London. But why did it get this name, and how did it get linked to Tottenham Hotspurs?
Tottenham, Tottenham Hotspurs, and Tottenham Cake seemed to have all grown together at roughly the same time, around 100 years ago.
In the late 1800s, Tottenham became part of London rather than a suburban area on the outskirts. In 1884, Hotspurs football club added the name Tottenham to become Tottenham Hotspurs because it is based in the area.
Also at this time, local baker Henry Chalkley started making a delicious “scone-like” cake with icing made from mulberries found in the burial yard of the Friends’ Meeting House in Tottenham (the Quaker’s meeting place). It was baked in large trays and cut into squares to be sold for a penny apiece.
Then in 1901, the Spurs won the FA Cup Final, and the Tottenham Cake was handed out to local children for free, cementing its association with Tottenham and its classic status.
So, Tottenham Cake was born. You can see why we love its history and love its taste even more! Over time it has evolved into a classic sponge cake sort of base, and the icing is often made from pink food colouring for ease.
However, you can definitely make it from crushed mulberries if you have some or crushed raspberries if you want to. I’ve even seen recipes with Blackcurrent juice! So we give you all those options below.
Things you’ll need to make Tottenham Cake
- Rectangle Cake Tin measuring 9x12inches– or use a larger 9x13inch tin for a thinner cake, but you may need to reduce the cooking time slightly as it will cook through faster
- Large bowl for mixing
- Mixer or electric beater– It’s important to mix the ingredients thoroughly (but not over-mix, of course!) so use a mixer if you have one with a low setting or an electric beater set on low. If you’re sticking to a spoon and bowl, just add the ingredients slowly so you can get them all mixed together properly.
Ingredients for Tottenham Cake
For the Cake
- 400g Butter or Margarine at room temperature
- 400g Caster Cugar
- 400g Self-Raising Flour
- 1 tsp Vanilla Essence OR 1 tbsp Lemon Zest
- 7-8 Medium Eggs
For the Icing
- 500g Icing Sugar
- 1 tsp Pink Food Colouring OR 1 tbsp Blackcurrant Juice OR Raspberry Juice from crushed raspberries
- 4-5 tbsp Water
- Desiccated Coconut to taste
Butter
You can use unsalted butter in this recipe, but we like Stork or margarine the most. It often results in a lighter cake, so don’t feel bad if you want to substitute it!
Butter should be at room temperature to allow it to be beaten, but margarine spread or stork can be chilled.
Eggs
The success of a sponge cake recipe is all in the equality of the ingredients.
The eggs should weigh the same as the butter, sugar, and flour, but obviously this isn’t as easy to ascertain, so there are a few ways to do it. Despite eggs being sized, they can vary greatly in weight!
Weighing in the shell adds around 10% per egg but does give you an idea if you need the full 8 eggs or only 7. Your first option is to weigh them in their shells and choose whichever option is closest to 400g.
The next option is to have your bowl on a scale as you add ingredients and either stop at 7 or continue to 8 to get you as close to 400g as possible.
And finally, if you want to be REALLY specific, you can crack the eggs open and weigh them, and then just match the rest of the ingredients to that weight. I usually like to do this method as it’s the most specific.
I take another bowl and set my scale to zero with the bowl on it, then measure out 8 eggs, and match the rest of the ingredients to that amount.
When it comes to adding the eggs, I just use a spoon/fork to slide them out of the bowl and into the mixture to mix, roughly one by one.
Vanilla Essence or Lemon Zest
Traditional Tottenham Cake recipes seem to be fairly plain, but we have often seen the addition of lemon or orange zest as well. This adds a lovely hint of fresh citrus to the sponge. Depending on what we feel like having, we alternate between this or a dash of vanilla essence.
Making the Icing
The easiest and most common option for Tottenham Cake icing is to use pink food colouring. This is a perfectly good and delicious way to do it!
Traditionally it was made from crushed mulberries, so if you have access to these, you can crush enough to add to the icing sugar to make it pink, with a little water if necessary too.
If you’d like to use berries but can’t get mulberries then raspberries are a nice substitute. Crush a handful of raspberries then press through a sieve to remove any seeds. Mix the remaining raspberry juice in with the icing, and a tablespoon or two of water if necessary.
Another option is to use blackcurrent juice (like Ribena). Use 2-3 tablespoons and then water for the rest of the mixture until it forms a thick but runny icing.
How to Make Tottenham Cake – Step-by-step Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan or 350F/320F
Grease 12 x 9 inch traybake tin.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Add one egg at a time and fully mix in.
Add vanilla essence or zest. It’s up to you with flavour you prefer.
Sift flour and fold into the batter, taking care not to overmix it.
Tip into the greased cake tin and bang on the bench to get rid of any air pockets.
Bake for 40-50 minutes.
Allow to cool in the tin.
Mix the icing sugar with the colouring and 2-3 tbsp of water. Add more until you have a thick but smooth icing.
Tip over the sponge and spread out evenly to the sides of the tin.
Sprinkle with coconut to your liking.
Leave the icing to set for a few hours, then remove the cake from the tin and cut it into squares.
Variations
Tottenham Cake is simple but it’s easy to make a few variations to the recipe to have it just how you like it.
We’ve already mentioned using lemon/orange zest or vanilla essence, and the different ways to make pink icing.
You could also use sprinkles rather than coconut for the topping, or even put sprinkles in the sponge mixture itself to give you a “funfetti” cake.
Try different essence flavours in the icing or the cake as well, if you’d like to!
Here’s the recipe card with all the details.
Yield: 16
Classic Tottenham Cake Recipe
Tottenham Cake is a simple, tasty, light sponge with bright pink icing cut into squares or rectangles.
Traditionally the pink icing got its colour from local mulberry berries. Now it's more often from pink food colouring or possibly from raspberries or another berry that produces a pink colour.
We love this easy recipe!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Additional Time 2 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 12 minutes
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 400g (1.75 Cups) Butter or Margarine at room temperature
- 400g (1.75 Cups) Caster Cugar
- 400g (2.5 Cups) Self-Raising Flour
- 1 tsp Vanilla Essence OR 1 tbsp Lemon Zest
- 7-8 Medium Eggs
For the Icing
- 500g (3.25 Cups) Icing Sugar
- 1 tsp Pink Food Colouring OR 1 tbsp Blackcurrant Juice OR Raspberry Juice from crushed raspberries
- 4-5 tbsp Water
- Desiccated Coconut to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan or 350F/320F
- Grease 12 x 9 inch traybake tin.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
- Add one egg at a time and fully mix in.
- Add vanilla essence or zest. It's up to you with flavour you prefer.
- Sift flour and fold into the batter, taking care not to overmix it.
- Tip into the greased cake tin and bang on the bench to get rid of any air pockets.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes.
- Allow to cool in the tin.
- Mix the icing sugar with the colouring and 2-3 tbsp of water. Add more until you have a thick but smooth icing.
- Tip over the sponge and spread out evenly to the sides of the tin.
- Sprinkle with coconut to your liking.
- Leave the icing to set for a few hours, then remove the cake from the tin and cut it into squares.
Notes
Butter
This recipe can use unsalted butter, but we like Stork or margarine the most. It often results in a lighter cake, so don't feel bad if you want to substitute it!
Butter should be at room temperature to allow it to be beaten, but margarine spread or stork can be chilled.
Eggs
The success of a sponge cake recipe is all in the equality of the ingredients.
The eggs should weigh the same as the butter, sugar, and flour, but obviously, this isn't as easy to ascertain, so there are a few ways to do it. Despite eggs being sized, they can vary greatly in weight!
Weighing in the shell adds around 10% per egg but does give you an idea if you need the full 8 eggs or only 7. Your first option is to weigh them in their shells and choose whichever option is closest to 400g.
The next option is to have your bowl on a scale as you add ingredients and either stop at 7 or continue to 8 to get you as close to 400g as possible.
And finally, if you want to be REALLY specific, you can crack the eggs open and weigh them, and then just match the rest of the ingredients to that weight. I usually like to do this method as it's the most specific.
I take another bowl and set my scale to zero with the bowl on it, then measure out 8 eggs, and match the rest of the ingredients to that amount.
When it comes to adding the eggs, I just use a spoon/fork to slide them out of the bowl and into the mixture to mix, roughly one by one.
Vanilla Essence or Lemon Zest
Traditional Tottenham Cake recipes seem to be fairly plain, but we have often seen the addition of lemon or orange zest as well. This adds a lovely hint of fresh citrus to the sponge. Depending on what we feel like having, we alternate between this or a dash of vanilla essence.
Making the Icing
The easiest and most common option for Tottenham Cake icing is to use pink food colouring. This is a perfectly good and delicious way to do it!
Traditionally it was made from crushed mulberries, so if you have access to these, you can crush enough to add to the icing sugar to make it pink, with a little water if necessary too.
If you'd like to use berries but can't get mulberries then raspberries are a nice substitute. Crush a handful of raspberries then press through a sieve to remove any seeds. Mix the remaining raspberry juice in with the icing, and a tablespoon or two of water if necessary.
Another option is to use blackcurrent juice (like Ribena). Use 2-3 tablespoons and then water for the rest of the mixture until it forms a thick but runny icing.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16 Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 455Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 136mgSodium: 516mgCarbohydrates: 55gFiber: 1gSugar: 35gProtein: 6g
These values are an estimate only
We hope you enjoy this simple but delicious recipe! If you want other easy traybakes try our Old School Sponge Cake, and Sticky Toffee Pudding Traybake.
For other British classics, check out our Cornflake Tart and Butterscotch Tart. And for Scottish recipes you can’t go past Chocolate Tiffin, or Mars Bar Slice.
Happy baking!
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Sonja and Phil
