2020 Kiwi Cakes & Bakes.

During the lock-down of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, many at home with their families brought out the old cookbooks and began to create many of those famous New Zealand treats. This proved the baking tradition in Aotearoa New Zealand is alive and well. NZ Post created a stamp to remember these treats that evoke flavourful memories. Remember these treasured delights we knew as we grew up with, many still found in lunch-bars, cafes and even up-market restaurants. 

 The issue was designed to invite you to simply feast your eyes or maybe satisfy your appetite with a little home baking of your own.

This stamp issue celebrates classic baked treats - favourites found in the little local cake shop or  lovingly made at home. Each stamp features a different item, presented as a work of art in the bakery window.

The 15 Single Stamps.

(Note that these 15 images will be replaced when better ones become available.)

$1.40 - Anzac Biscuits.

During the First World War, women posted parcels of biscuits to men serving overseas and the acronym ANZAC was applied to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in 1914. But the crisp, golden oatmeal biscuits did not acquire their name until they appeared as Anzac Crispies in the 1919 edition of the St Andrew’s Cookery Book. Anzac Biscuits live on in both countries.

$1.40 - Pavlova.

Ownership of the original Pavlova has long been contested in the Antipodes. Culinary researcher Dr Helen Leach discovered a recipe for a meringue ‘Pavlova Cake’ in the 1933 Rangiora Mothers’ Union Cookery Book of Tried and Tested Recipes, sent in by Laurina Stevens. This was a few years after the visit of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova but two years before the first recipe for a meringue Pavlova appears in Australia.

$1.40 - Churchill Slice.

Named after the UK prime minister who saw his nation through the Second World War, this baked, two-layered chocolate slice with a coconut filling can be found in mid-20th century New Zealand recipe books.

$1.40 - Cheese Rolls.

Cheese Rolls are a southern specialty. Recipes vary, but generally to make them, spread slices of crustless white bread with a mixture of thick onion soup from a packet and grated cheese, then roll them up and bake briefly to melt the cheese and crisp the bread.

$1.40 Lolly Cake

This children’s party favourite seems to have appeared in the 1970s. A mixture of crushed malt biscuits, sweetened condensed milk and melted butter with chopped marshmallow lollies is formed into a cylinder, rolled in coconut, chilled and then sliced.

$1.40 - Neenish Tarts.

Neenish Tarts were known as Nienich Tarts in Australia. Small baked cases filled with lemon-flavoured mock cream and distinctively iced – one-half chocolate and the other vanilla – they are a graphic standout on any afternoon tea table.

$1.40 - Lamingtons.

Australian in origin, lamingtons’ first appearance seems to be in Queensland Country Life in December 1900, although similar small cakes iced and rolled in coconut are in earlier cookbooks. They took off quickly in New Zealand after an initial sighting in Dunedin’s Otago Witness in March 1902.

$1.40 - Cheese Scones.

Scones are the perfect quick bread made possible by the invention of baking powder in the 1850s, and cheese scones are always near the top of any list of favourites.

$1.40 - Custard Squares.

Custard Squares comprise two crisp sheets of flaky pastry with a significant layer of rich vanilla custard in between. The top is iced and either sprinkled with desiccated coconut or decorated with lines of feather icing.

$1.40 - Chocolate Crackles.

Cornflakes and rice bubbles were available in New Zealand from the late 1920s and were quickly adopted for biscuits and slices and even meringues. Involving no baking at all, Chocolate Crackles have been a children’s party favourite for decades.

$1.40 - Ginger Biscuits.

New Zealand seems to have a particular obsession with ginger in baking. Community cookery books abound with recipes for Ginger Biscuits or Gingersnaps, Ginger Crunch, Ginger Kisses, Ginger Gems, Ginger Puddings, Pear Ginger and of course homemade ginger beer. 

$1.40 - Melting Moments.

Melting Moments have a pretty name and a distinctive appearance. They are small round, buttery biscuits, decorated with indentations made with the tines of a fork and sandwiched in pairs with butter icing. Related to Scottish shortbread, they have a more melting texture since they are made with icing sugar and cornflour.

$1.40 - Louise Cake.

In New Zealand home baking, desiccated coconut has historically provided an economical substitute for the ground almonds used in many European recipes, since coconuts are grown throughout the Pacific. It is included in the meringue topping over the jam and biscuit base of Louise Cake.

$1.40 - Afghans.

Afghans, like Chocolate Crackles, involve using commercially made breakfast cereals. Afghans are small, crisp chocolate cakes iced with chocolate icing and topped with a half walnut. The source of the name remains a mystery, though one theory is that returned soldiers saw a likeness to the hats worn by Afghan camel drivers in Egypt.

$1.40 - Banana Cake.

In New Zealand, countless over-ripe bananas are rescued by their inclusion in moreish cakes, loaves and muffins. Banana Cake filled with sliced bananas and whipped cream and iced with thin lemon icing was the favourite of a legendary New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary.  

First Day Covers.

Notice the special 1st-day cancel is the Pavlova.

First Day Cover 1 - 1st July 2020. 

Main Picture - The Pavlova.

The Stamps - $1.40 Anzac Biscuits; $1.40 Pavlova; $1.40 Churchill Slice; 

$1.40 Cheese Rolls; $1.40 Lolly Cake.

First Day Cover 2 - 1st July 2020. 

Main Picture - The Lolly Cake.

The Stamps - $1.40 Neenish Tarts; $1.40 Lamingtons; $1.40 Cheese Scones;

$1.40 Custard Squares; $1.40 Chocolate Crackles.

First Day Cover 3 - 1st July 2020. 

Main Picture - Lamingtons.

The Stamps - $1.40 Ginger Biscuits; $1.40 Melting Moments; $1.40 Louise Cake;

$1.40 Afghans; $1.40 Banana Cake.

Technical Information.

Date of issue:  1 July 2020.

Number of stamps: 15 gummed stamps.

Denominations: 15 x $1.40.

Stamps and first day covers designed: Graeme Mowday, Wellington, New Zealand.

Printer and process: Southern Colour Print Ltd by offset lithography.

The number of colours: Four process colours with synseal overgloss.

Stamp size and format: 34.55mm x 35mm (vertical).

Stamp sheet size and format: 235mm x 180mm (horizontal).

Paper type:  Tullis Russell 104gsm red phosphor gummed stamp paper.

The number of stamps per sheet:  15.

Perforation gauge: 14.286 x 13.895.

Period of sale:

Unless stocks are exhausted earlier, these stamps will remain on sale until 30 June 2021. First-day covers will remain on sale until 26 August 2020.

Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ

You can visit their website and Online Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/

Information & images for this post came from.

New Zealand Post (Stamps)