Cake that was to help neither side during World War II reportedly? (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
swiss roll
'cake' is the definition.
(I know that Swiss roll is a type of cake)
'was to help neither side during world war ii reportedly?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'was' could be 'is' (being is a kind of being) and 'is' is present in the answer.
'side' could be 'r' (abbreviation for right) and 'r' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'that' is the link.
(Other definitions for swiss roll that I've seen before include "Type of sponge cake" , "teatime treat?" , "Filled sponge cake" , "Tumble down the ski slopes maybe" , "Somehow sponge" .)