Orange Bread, Mount Edith Cavell Tearoom , Jasper Alberta

The 'original Cavell Chalet' recipe that was published in late 1960's in a Jasper cookbook was the one used by Mrs. Slark. It wasn’t Anne Guild’s modified, dozen-loaves, secret one. She got delicious results using one orange per loaf, not the two called for. They were always expensive in Jasper and often hard to get in quantity.

Ingredients

• Squeeze an orange; save its juice.
• Slice the peels very thinly. Place them in a saucepan and add just enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, add 3/4 cup white sugar, then simmer until the peels are soft and sweet in a light marmalade.
• Cool.
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• Cream together in a bowl:
• 1 tablespoon shortening (or lard)
• 2/3 cup homogenized milk (not 2 percent)
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• In a small bowl or cup:
• Beat 1 egg thoroughly. Stir it into the above creamed mixture.
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• Blend or sift together in another bowl:
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (must have salt for flavour)
• 2 cups of white, all-purpose flour
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• Add the dried mixture to creamed mixture. Alternate with adding 2/3 cup homogenized milk and 1/3 cup of orange juice. Fold in the orange-peel mixture to the dough.
• Mix dough only until blended and don't overbeat.
• Turn whole dough into greased 9 X 5 inch oblong metal loaf pan. May use a greased brown paper bag to line the loaf pan or use waxed paper, lightly greased for same effect.
• Let dough sit for 20 minutes in the pan before baking.
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• Bake in pre-heated oven, 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes.
• Let loaf cool before removing from pan and waxed paper. Slice loaf thinly, spread with light touch of butter or margerine. Serve with hot beverage. Mmmm!
• Oh, it isn't a health bread. Probably too much fat and sugar and salt for some tastes. It’s a vintage recipe, however, and part of Jasper and Mount Edith Cavell’s history. It still tastes wonderful after all these years.

Directions

Mount Edith Cavell Chalet, Jasper National Park, Canada
“The Home of Orange Bread Since 1929”
… until 1976, when the Chalet was torn down.

See http://www.bguiled.com/G&G-life%20stories.htm for the history and photographs of this building. Scroll approx 1/3 of the way down for its beginnings, then approx. 3/4 of the way down for its operation from 1946 to the early 1970s.

The Chalet lay 18 miles/28 kilometres from the town of Jasper, up a very winding road and wondrous scenery. A path leads from the parking lot to a cairn honouring WWI martyr Edith Cavell, then follows a meltwater creek to a bridge with a stunning view of Angel Glacier. It continues up to fragile alpine meadows and beyond to the east ridge of the mountain, its most-climbed route.

This famous ORANGE BREAD was served by the first owner, Mrs. Slark, from Victoria, BC. The ingredients are for sea-level baking. Since the Chalet was a mile up, the baking powder had to be cut back considerably.

When our grandmother, Anne Guild, took over the tearoom after WWII, she got a handwritten copy of the recipe from Mrs. Slark. She insisted on keeping it secret, but the real secret to its texture and lightness was the elevation. She baked it in town occasionally, but even her special recipe and touch didn’t turn out the same as her mile-up loaves.

Tourism grew quickly from a few genteel visitors a day through the 1930s to great swarms of tourists following WWII. Grandma and Grandad – he stirred the batter in the huge mixing bowl – whipped up a dozen loaves at a time. Some days they did this several times over, baking from 5 – 7 am and often again in the evening until past midnight.

Grandma used two old teacups to measure the flour and sugar from large barrels. Of all the things she left behind in the building after being forced to sell to the federal government, she only came close to tears over these two relics. She left them, though, and never looked back.

Submitted 12/18/08.
Source: Family recipe collection
Submitted By: Brenda Guild

Orange Bread, Mount Edith Cavell Tearoom , Jasper Alberta