Cooking on Saturday

Good Morning and welcome to my first 'Cooking on Saturday'. Each Saturday (for a while anyway) I’m going to bring you recipes from the Regency Period. These recipes are from the English Housewifry – 1764 (You can find this book in Google Books to download) This week we are looking at baking goods.

Breakfast Cakes

450g (1lb) Currants

450g (1lb) Flour

150ml (¼ pint) Cream

110g (4oz) Butter

3 Egg Yolks

2 Egg Whites

5 tbsp Sugar

4 tbsp New Yeast

4 tbsp Sack* (or 2 tbsp Brandy)

Nutmeg

Sift the flour and nutmeg together.

Place the cream into a saucepan, add the butter and stir over a low heat until melted (do not allow to boil).

Beat the eggs, yeast and sack* (or brandy) together thoroughly.

Mix all of the ingredients together thoroughly.

Prepare some baking tins by flouring them.

Divide the mixture between them.

Allow to stand in a warm place for a short time, to allow them to rise.

Bake for 1¾ hours.

To make Breakfast Cakes

Take a pound of currans well washed, (rub them in a cloth till dry) a pound of flour dried before a fire, take three eggs, leave out one of the whites, four spoonfuls of new yeast, and four spoonfuls of sack or two of brandy, beat the yeast and eggs well together; then take a jill of cream, and something above a quarter of a pound of butter, set them on a fire, and stir them till the butter be melted, (but do not let them boil) grate a large nutmeg into the flour, with currans and five spoonfuls of sugar; mix all together, beat it with your hand till it leave the bowl, then flour the tins you put the paste in, and let them stand a little to rise, then bake them an hour and a quarter.

Queen Cakes

450g (1lb) Flour

450g (1lb) Sugar

450g (1lb) Butter

225g (8oz) Currants (Optional)

110g (4oz) Almonds, grated (Optional)

9 Eggs

1-2 tbsp Rose Water

Mace

Sift the flour and mace together.

Beat the eggs.

Melt the butter and allow to cool.

Beat the eggs, rose water and butter together well.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture.

Add the liquid mixture and mix thoroughly.

Add some of the mixture to each of the tins

Add a layer of almonds or currants, then a layer of the mixture.

Bake

You can ice them if you wish, using a thin mixture applied with a brush.

To make Queen Cakes

Take a pound of London flour dry'd well before the fire, nine eggs, a pound of loaf sugar beaten and sifted, put one half to your eggs and the other to your butter; take a pound of butter and melt it without water put it into a stone bowl, when it is almost cold put in your sugar and a spoonful or two of rose water, beat it very quick, for half an hour, till it be as white as cream; beat the eggs and sugar as long and very quick, whilst they be white; when they are well beat mix them all together; then take half a pound of currans cleaned well, and a little shred of mace, so you may fill one part of your tins before you put in your currans; you may put a quarter of a pound of almonds shred (if you please) into them that is without currans; you may ice them if you please, but do not let the iceing be thicker than you may lie on with a little brush.



That is just a couple of recipes for this week. I’ll see what I can come up with next week.

Sandie