Cakes by Botham's of Whitby

During our recent trip to Whitby, I had a chance to visit an old bakery called Botham's of Whitby in the historical fishing port. The family run craft bakery was established in 1865. It's older than 100 year-old Bettys in Harrogate!

The shop was kinda small. It didn't have a tea room space there while according to their website, the bakery runs a couple of tea rooms at different locations in Whitby as well as other nearby towns. There were bread, biscuits, fresh pastries and pre-packaged teats. Customers were constantly coming and going. The place seemed pretty popular.

Since we were on trip, we bought two kinds of pre-packaged cake that had a long shelf life without refrigeration. One was Elizabeth Botham's Landlord Fruit Cake - "Selected vine fruits steeped in Timothy Taylor's Landlord Pale Ale are combined with butter and ground almonds to produce this rich, spiced beer cake. Two Yorkshire companies with over 280 years experience in brewing and baking have devised this beer cake for your enjoyment." The cake was very moist and tasty, not too dense or not so sugary.

The other was Date and Walnut Spelt Brack - "A superbly full-bodied and nutty cake made without fat in the recipe." As it said, there was no butter or any kinds of fat. I guess that's a way to make Brack. I remember there was no butter or oil in my first homemade Tea Brack. I thought Brack was a traditional Irish fruit cake but it also seemed common in England, at least in North Yorkshire. Anyway, this brack was pretty good, too.

Both cakes from the over 150 year old bakery weren't fancy but simple lovely treats like something a grandma proudly bakes. We enjoyed them with a cup of tea.