[Sca-cooks] Cakes was Pancakes and Fruitcakes was Happy Shrove/Fat Tuesday
Johnna Holloway
johnnae at mac.com
Wed Feb 25 17:00:56 PST 2009
Took a couple of days to get back to this:
Digby has this one-- It has dates, raisins, citron, cuurants, plus the
spices.
To make a Plumb-Cake.
Take a peck of flower, and part it in half. Then take two quarts of good
Ale-yest, and strain it into half the flower, and some new milk boiled,
and almost cold again; make it into a very light paste, and set it
before the fire to rise; Then take five pound of Butter, and melt it in
a skillet, with a quarter of a pint of Rose-water; when your paste is
risen, and your oven almost hot, which will be by this time, take your
paste from the fire, and break it into small pieces, and take your other
part of flower, and strew it round your paste; Then take the melted
Butter, and put it to the past, and by degrees work the paste and flower
together, till you have mingled all very well. Take six Nutmegs, some
Cinnamon and Mace well beaten, and two pound of Sugar, and strew it into
the Paste, as they are a working it. Take three pounds of Raisins
stoned, and twelve pounds of Currants very well washed and dryed again;
one pound of Dates sliced; half a pound of green Citron dryed and sliced
very thin; strew all these into the paste, till it have received them
all; Then let your oven be ready, and make up your Cake, and set it into
the oven; but you must have a great care, it doth not take cold. Then to
Ice it, take a pound and half of double refined Sugar beaten and
searsed; The whites of three Eggs new-laid, and a little Orange
flower-water, with a little musk and Ambergreece, beaten and searsed,
and put to your sugar; Then strew your Sugar into the Eggs, and beat it
in a stone Mortar with a Woodden Pastel, till it be as white as snow,
which will be by that time the Cake is baked; Then draw it to the ovens
mouth, and drop it on, in what form you will; let it stand a little
again in the oven to harden.
and also as mentioned already this one too
To make an Excellent Cake.
To a Peck of fine flower, take six pounds of fresh butter, which must be
tenderly melted, ten pounds of Currants, of Cloves and Mace, half an
ounce of each, an ounce of Cinnamon, half an ounce of Nutmegs, four
ounces of Sugar, one pint of Sack mixed with a quart at least of thick
barm of Ale (as soon as it is settled, to have the thick fall to the
bottom, which will be, when it is about two days old) half a pint of
Rose-water; half a quarter of an ounce of Saffron. Then make your paste,
strewing the spices, finely beaten, upon the flower: Then put the melted
butter (but even just melted) to it; then the barm, and other liquors:
and put it into the oven well heated presently. For the better baking of
it, put it in a hoop, and let it stand in the oven one hour and half.
You Ice the Cake with the whites of two Eggs, a small quantity of
Rose-water, and some Sugar.
Markham in the 1623 Countrey contentments, or The English husvvife has
this plain spice one that bakes up as small cakes:
To make excellent spice Cakes, take halfe a pecke of very fine
Wheat-flower, take almost one pound of sweet butter, and some good milke
and creame mixt together, set it on the fire, and put in your butter,
and a good deale of sugar, and let it melt together: then straine
Saffron into your milke a good quantity; then take seuen or eight
spoonefull of good Ale barme, and eight egges with two yelkes and mix
them together, then put your milke to it when it is somewhat cold, and
into your flower put salt, Aniseedes bruised, Cloues and Mace, and a
good deale of Cinamon: then worke all together good and stiffe, that you
need not worke in any flower after; then put in a little rosewater cold,
then rub it well in the thing you knead it in, and worke it throughly:
if it be not sweet enough, scrape in a little more suger, and pull it
all in peeces, and hurle in a good quantity of Currants, and so worke
all together againe, and bake your Cake as you see cause in a gentle
warme ouen.
And here is his one for a Banbury Cake:
To make a very good Banbury Cake, take 4. pounds of Currants, and wash
and picke them very cleane, and drie them in a cloth: then take three
egges and put away one yelke, and beate them, and straine them with good
barme, putting thereto Cloues, Mace, Cinamon and Nutmegges; then take a
pint of creame, and as much mornings milke and set it one the fire till
the cold bee taken away; then take flower and put in good store of cold
butter and suger, then put in your egges, barme and meale and worke them
all together an houre or more; then saue a part of the Past, and the
rest breake in peeces and worke in your Currants; which done, mould your
Cake of what quantity you please; And then with that past which hath not
any Currants couer it very thinne both vnderneath and a loft. And so
bake it according to the bignesse.
Johnnae
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
>
> On Feb 24, 2009, at 11:00 AM, Johnna Holloway wrote: Depends on how
> much fruit and what type of cake I suppose in part.
>> They show up titled as great cakes.
>
> I'm pretty sure Digby, at least, has a similar one, with currants,
> eggs, butter, spices, sack, ale barm... and I think a small amount of
> almond meal mixed in.
> I can't find one in Gervase Markham's The English Housewife, which
> surprises me. Will check Hugh Plat later.
> Adamantius
Depends on just what you mean by fruitcake. If you take a look at Joris
Hoefnagel's A Wedding Fete at Bermondsey (1570s), you will see four
large brides cakes being displayed. These are large Banbury cakes
filled with currants and spices and possibly other candied fruit. A
recipe for these from "The Queen's Closet Open'd" (1655) describes them
as being scented with musk and ambergris.
Bear
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