19^th century

Lady Fingers

Snappy lady fingers used to be called ‘sponge fingers’ and they evolved from the classic sponge cakes of the nineteenth century. They are the English version of an Italian savoiardi biscuit, which means ‘from Savoy’, explaining the link with the English sponge cakes which were also called Savoy biscuits. The Aosta Valley of Italy, in the Alps, was once known as the Duchy of Savoy, and the biscuits were said to have come from these parts.

It is hard to determine where the biscuit was first made; it seems to me it is a normal evolution of a biscuit that has been lovingly prepared in so many different ways for centuries. It appears the biscuit was popular and used all over Europe, as other countries have their own name for it.

Frederick Vine gives a recipe in his book Saleable Shop Goods (1898) and also shares an engraving of what the sponge finger pan – or ‘frame’, as they called it – looked like. His recipe is very clear, though he doesn’t mention an important step: to beat the egg whites to soft peaks, which is important to create that snappy biscuit. His recipe and instructions are too long to share here, but I leave you with William Kitchiner’s version, which is very similar.

Sponge Biscuits.

Break into a round-bottomed preserving-pan nine good-sized eggs, with one pound of sifted loaf sugar, and some grated lemon-peel; set the pan over a very slow fire, and whisk it till quite warm (but not too hot to set the eggs); remove the pan from the fire, and whisk it till cold, which may be a quarter of an hour; then stir in the flour lightly with a spattle; previous to which, prepare the sponge frame as follows: – Wipe them well out with a clean cloth, rub the insides with a brush dipped in butter, which has been clarified, and sift loaf sugar over; fill the frames with the mixture; throw pounded sugar over; bake them five minutes in a brisk oven: when done, take them from the frames, and lay them on a sieve.

William Kitchiner, The Cook’s Oracle, 1820

Makes enough for 2 lady finger trays

clarified butter, melted, for greasing

60 g (2¼ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting

3 eggs, separated

90 g (3¼ oz) raw sugar

grated zest of ½ lemon

icing (confectioners’) sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F).

Prepare the baking trays – preferably sponge finger trays, or plain trays will do – by greasing them with melted clarified butter and dusting with flour.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then add half the sugar and continue to whisk until you get a glossy shine. This should take no longer than 1 minute.

Mix the egg yolks with the remaining sugar and the lemon zest and whisk until creamy. Sift the flour – yes, you really do need to sift it to get the best result here – over the yolk and sugar mixture and fold it in until combined.

Now fold in the egg whites, then scoop the batter immediately into a piping (icing) bag with a plain 1 cm (³/₈ inch) nozzle and start piping 8 cm (3¼ inch) long fingers into the lady finger tray or onto the plain tray. Dust lightly with icing sugar.

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven, allow the biscuits to cool in the tin for 5–10 minutes only, then remove them before they stick to the tin.

In an airtight container, they keep for weeks and are good to use in trifles and other puddings. If you want to eat them on their own, it’s best to eat them as fresh as possible.