Image: H. Ranald Simmonds · Public domain
The Schauer Cookery Book
- Year
- 1909
- Era
- 20th century
- Origin
- Australia · Oceania
- Language
- English
- Category
- Australasia
The Schauer Cookery Book emerged from the teaching kitchens of the Brisbane Central Technical College, where Amy Schauer instructed generations of Queensland women in domestic cookery. First issued in 1909, it became one of the most enduring Australian culinary texts, running to numerous editions across several decades. Its recipes, adapted to subtropical ingredients and colonial household conditions, document the codification of domestic science instruction in early twentieth-century Australia.
Cooking from this book
Passionfruit Sponge
Signature dishFew desserts capture the spirit of Amy Schauer's classroom legacy quite like the passionfruit sponge. A featherlight cake crowned with cream and the bright, seedy pulp of a tropical favourite, it became a fixture of Queensland tea tables thanks to generations of cookery students trained at the Brisbane Central Technical College. Schauer's repeated editions helped cement the sponge as a benchmark of domestic skill across Australia, where lightness of crumb signalled a properly schooled hand.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.