Here is a recipe for a Battie taken from a 1930 West Yorkshire recipe book. It produces a light cake with a sponge-like texture.  It can be eaten plain, but is also very more-ish when buttered.

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450g) plain flour
• ½ lb (225g) Demerara sugar
• ¼ lb (113g) lard
• ½lb (225g) currants or raisins
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon treacle
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda mixed in ½ pint (10 fl oz) of milk
• I medium egg

Method

1.  Mix the flour and sugar, rub in the lard
2. Add dried fruit and treacle
3. Add the bicarbonate of soda and milk
4. Mix all together and transfer to a baking dish
5. Bake in a slow oven for 1½ hours

Source:  Practical Cookery (n/d circa 1930) by R.T. Dawson and H. Moore. Published by the authors. Keighley, West Yorkshire.