[Sca-cooks] Selene's spice cakes/breads

Susan Fox selene at earthlink.net
Sat Dec 20 20:09:44 PST 2008


Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Selene replied to my request with her version of the spice cake recipe:
>
> <<< Not "period" but considering the recipe is from one of the founding
> members of the SCA, maybe it's not so inappropriate.
>
> I don't want to call it "fruitcake" because then people would avoid it.
> I use this batter to glue together all the fruit and nuts I can jam in,
> candied peels and dried fruit.  No citron because I don't like it much
> and neither do my friends.  It keeps pretty well, particularly when
> doused with brandy or rum. >>>
>
> Thank you for posting this!
>
> I was wondering until I got further down into the recipe whether this 
> was 1/ 2 cup instant coffee crystals, 1/2 cup ground coffee beans or 
> 1/2 cup of brewed coffee. :-)

Brewed coffee.
>
> Although it is easy enough to add more nuts and fruits, about how many 
> are needed for this recipe?

Start with 1/2 cup of each of whatever you like and fine tune it from 
there.  For a Christmas cake, it winds up being more fruit and nuts than 
cake, the batter just gluing the fruit and nuts together.
>
> And I've never made one of these cakes which is doused/soaked in 
> liquor before, which is one reason this one intrigues me. How much 
> liquor would you use? Do you simply pour it on once? Or do you pour in 
> a little bit multiple times over a particular time period?
The latter, pouring some at multiple times.  Keep the cake it its pan [I 
buy foil pans by the gross, nearly] and pour it on until wet.  Let it 
dry, do it again.  Use something 80 proof or better when it comes to 
flaming time.
>
> And I actually do have some candied citron. Having never seen it 
> before, in any state, I bought a package to try.

Citron has a very distinctive flavor and some people really love it.  
Nibble a bit and see what you think.
>
> Stefan
> (see, some of this is an example why it is best for me to start with 
> someone's redaction as a starting point. Otherwise you might *really* 
> turn up with something strange) 

You will always have questions about even the most-descriptive recipe, 
that's why you are Stefan.  ;-)

Selene



More information about the Sca-cooks mailing list