[Sca-cooks] back to food by request

[Johnna Holloway]

There's a copy of my yeasted Great Cake recipe at
http://home.comcast.net/~iasmin/mkcc/MKCCfiles/AlasdairGuinevreLunch.html 
<http://home.comcast.net/%7Eiasmin/mkcc/MKCCfiles/AlasdairGuinevreLunch.html> 
I adapted it for a Jacobean dessert banquet for the Ladies of the Rose 
event in June 2002.
My notes say: " This is one of four recipes for ale barm or yeast 
leavened cakes found
in 'A Booke of Sweetmeats', which is the second manuscripts of the two 
Tudor-Jacobean
manuscripts that make up Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery.
Sir Kenelme Digbie or Digby in his The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby, 
Opened had a similar recipe for "An Excellent Cake" in his collection. 
Other cakes of the same type include Gervase Markham's Banbury Cake and 
one entitled
"To Make a Good Cake" from The Gentlewoman's Cabinet Unlocked
of the 1590’s. Rebecca Price in her culinary manuscript included recipes 
for "rich" and "not rich" cakes, "good" and "very good" cakes, and 
lastly a recipe for "A very good, and a Rich Cake, often made by me." 
Elizabeth David would remark that over the centuries every village and 
town in the British Isles would develop its own
specialty yeast bread or cake. The recipes mentioned here form the 
background of those cakes or breads."
It contains flour, eggs, spices, ale barm (made from 1 bottle of Sam 
Adams' Summer Ale) and 1 tablespoon yeast, 1 cup butter, currants, 
sugar, salt.
You could substitute some of the currants for almonds or use this recipe 
as a guide to create an almond yeasted cake from the other cake recipes 
that show up in
the 17th century.

<>Hope this helps.

Johnnae


Martha Oser wrote:

>All righty, here's a question I've been wanting to ask... 
>I'm looking for a period cake recipe that includes almonds, honey, flour, 
>butter and eggs.  The modern recipe that's inspiring me also has sour cream 
>in it (period?) and baking soda (not period, right?). 
>Anyone have anything that will fit the bill? 
>Many thanks, 
>