I found that when I made the full recipe, there were just too many for the two of us, as the yield was approximately 24 to 30, when made with 450g (1lb) of flour.
So, I adapted the original recipe, which was taken from my favourite book, Cattern Cakes and Lace, and we now enjoy 18 of these delicious cakes, although not all in the same sitting!
I have written at length before about the history of these small, spiced and fruited cakes, which in reallity, are a cross betwen a biscuit (cookie) and a scone, here.
All Souls’ Day originated and was celebrated in France as part of the Catholic church. But, the history of Soul Cakes goes right back to Medieaval times in Great Britain.
It was at this festival that Soul Cakes became a British culinary tradition. “Souling” would take place the night before All Soul’s day.
“Soulers”, often dressed in costumes, would travel from door to door begging for Soul Cake, and spiced ale in return for prayers and songs.
They would often sing a song requesting a cake, in return for prayers; it’s thought that this was most common in Shropshire, the Welsh Borders and Wales, hence Shropshire Soul Cakes.
The Soul Cake rhyme is as follows:
“Soul! Soul! For a soul-cake. I pray good misses, a soul-cake! An apple or pear, a plum or a cherry, Any good thing to make us merry. One for Peter, two for Paul. Three for Him who made us all. Up with the Kettle and down with the Pan, Give us good alms and we’ll be gone”
The practice of souling is now widely regarded as the precursor to the modern Halloween practice of trick-or-treating.
Anyway, back to today’s smaller recipe for Traditional Soul Cakes, which I’ve shared below. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do if you make them, Karen
A modernised version of a recipe from the English recipe compilation referred to as “Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book”. The original recipe from 1604 is as follows:
Take flower & sugar & nutmeg & cloves & mace & sweet butter & sack & a little ale barme, beat your spice, & put in your butter & your sack, cold, then work it well all together, & make it in little cakes, & so bake them, if you will you may put in some saffron into them and fruit.
I found that when I made the full recipe, there were just too many for the two of us, as the yield was approximately 24 to 30, when made with 450g (1lb) of flour.
So, I adapted the original recipe, which was taken from my favourite book, Cattern Cakes and Lace, and we now enjoy 18 of these delicious cakes, although not all in the same sitting!
I have written at length before about the history of these small, spiced and fruited cakes, which in reallity, are a cross betwen a biscuit (cookie) and a scone, here.
All Souls' Day was originally celebrated in France as part of the Catholic church. But, the history of Soul Cakes goes right back to Medieaval times in Great Britain.
It was at this festival that Soul Cakes became a British culinary tradition. “Souling” would take place the night before All Soul’s day.
"Soulers”, often dressed in costumes, would travel from door to door begging for Soul Cake, and spiced ale in return for prayers and songs.
They would often sing a song requesting a cake, in return for prayers; it's thought that this was most common in Shropshire, the Welsh Borders and Wales, hence Shropshire Soul Cakes.
The Soul Cake rhyme is as follows:
"Soul! Soul! For a soul-cake. I pray good misses, a soul-cake! An apple or pear, a plum or a cherry, Any good thing to make us merry. One for Peter, two for Paul. Three for Him who made us all. Up with the Kettle and down with the Pan, Give us good alms and we'll be gone"
The practice of souling is now widely regarded as the precursor to the modern Halloween practice of trick-or-treating.
Anyway, back to today's smaller recipe for Traditional Soul Cakes, which I've shared below. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do if you make them, Karen
Ingredients
115g butter (4ozs)
115g caster sugar (4ozs)
2 egg yolks
300g plain flour (10 1/2 ozs)
1 1/4 teaspoons mixed spice
75g currants (3ozs0
A little milk, to mix
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 180C/375F/Gas mark 5. Cream the butter and sugar together and then beat in the egg yolks, one at a time.
Sift the flour into another bowl with the mixed spice and then add them to the butter, sugar and egg yolk mixture.
Stir in the currants and add enough milk to make a soft dough, similar to scones.
Roll the dough out and cut out little cakes with a biscuit cutter. Mark each cake with a cross and then place them on a greased and/or lined baking sheet.
Bake the cakes for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack and the store in an airtight tin for up to 5 days.
Notes
These little cakes are a cross between a biscuit and a scone and are traditionally made for All Soul's Day, which is on the 2nd of November.
Packed with currants and mixed spice, these lovely little cakes are delicious with an afternoon cuppa.
This recipe is adapted from "Cattern Cakes and Lace".
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