Title: cakes-msg
Subject: Period cakes and cake recipes.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, period, cake, dessert, sugar, cookie

cakes-msg – 2/17/08

Period cakes and cake recipes.

NOTE: See also the files: Digby-Cakes-art, Digby-Cakes-msg, cak-soteltes-msg, flavord-sugars-msg, marzipan-msg, shortbread-msg, Sugar-Icing-art, sugar-paste-msg, pastries-msg, leavening-msg, Ital-Fnl-Caks-art.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 16:16:04 EST
From: Etain1263 at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] digby cakes
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

In a message dated 11/3/2004 3:42:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ldh at ece.gatech.edu writes:
> My Digby cakes did not rise (much),

There is nothing in them to make them rise.  They are a "shortbread" type of
cookie.  I've made dozens of them...I use them as "prizes" when I do "The Food
Game" at demos.  As for the frosting: use regular sugar.  It gives you the
opportunity to see how nice a sparkle you get when the liquid sinks into the
warm cookie (I just mix sugar and water until I can spoon it on the cookies),
leaving the sugar in a layer on top!   I also point out when I'm doing a demo
that they did not have powdered sugar....it was difficult enough to get that hard loaf grated and pounded into what we call "granulated" as it was!

   I use Cariadoc's redaction, also.

Etain

Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:54:31 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sweet bread or cake ecipe needed
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

To Make a Cake

Take half a peck (7 lbs.) of flour, two pound and a half of Currants, 3 or 4
Nutmegs, one pound of Almond paste, 2 pound of Butter, and one pint of
Cream, three teaspoonfuls of Rosewater, three quarters of a pound of Sugar,,
half a pint of Sack, a quarter pint of Yeast, and six Eggs,s make it and
bake it.

The Countess of Kent, A True Gentlewoman's Delight, 1653

The publication is posthumous, so the recipe is certainly earlier.

Bear

Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 21:09:22 +0200
From: Volker Bach <carlton_bach at yahoo.de>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] cakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Am Sonntag, 15. Mai 2005 20:44 schrieb Alexa:
> I have a question in regards to cakes that I thought I
>  would pose to the list.  I know cakes as we know
> them, the texture of birthday cakes you get at the
> bakery, or from a store bought mix  or home made cake
> are not period.  My question is, when abouts did cakes
> w/ the texture of pound cake come into play?  I have
> only found a recipe for 'an excellent cake' and by no
> means was it cake like we know of today, more like a
> cookie type of thing.

I think that for cakes of the modern kind to become common, you have to wait
for the advent of sodium bicarbonate and mechanical or electric beaters.
However, there are some period recipes that get you a fairly spongy,  
Soft texture not at all like cookies:

Mach ein Teig an mit Milch / Eyern / und schoenem weissen Mehl / thu
ein wenig Bierhefen darein / un mach einen guten Teig / der nicht gar
steiff ist / unnd versaltz jn nicht / setz jn zu der waerm / daß er fein
auffgehet / ...

Make dough with milk, eggs, and good white flour, and add a little brewing
yeast. Do not make it too stiff and do not oversalt it. Leave it to rise in
a warm place ...

The recipe goes on to describe making fritters. However, the  
following one says:

Nimm ein newen Krug / schmier jn innwendig wol mit zerlassener Butter /
thu einen solchen Teig darein / daß der Krug halb davon voll wirt / und
wenn er auffgelauffen / daß er voll ist / so scheubs in heissen Ofen / und
laß backen / thu jn herauß /  und laß jn kalt werden / zerschlag den Krug /
unnd thu die Schifer davon hinweg / unnd gibs fein ganz auff Tisch / so
sihet es wie ein Krug.

Take a new pot, grease its insides with melted butter, then take of such a
dough (as described in a previous recipe) and fill it half full. When it
has risen to full the pot entirely, place it in a hot oven and bake it.
Then take it out, cool it, and break the pot. Remove the shards and serve,
and it will look like a pot.
(Marx Rumpoldt, late 16th century)

Same pattern here, first the fritter, then using the same dough for a  
cake:

Nimm ein frischen Kaeß / der uber Nacht gemacht ist / thu schoen weiß
Mehl unnd Eyerdotter darunter / rueres wol durcheinander / mach Küchel
darauß / nimm Papier / und bestreichs mit Butter / und leg die Küchel
darauff nebeneinander / scheubs in einen warmen Ofen / so wirt es fein
aufflauffen / wirt innwendig fein hol wie ein Schwam / richt es in ein
Schuessel an / begeuß mit frischer Butter / unnd bestraew es mit weissem
Zucker / gibs warm oder kalt auff ein Tisch / beschneidts fein rundt un
duenn / legs auff eine Schuessel / bespreng es mit Rosenwasser / und
bestraew es mit weissem Zucker / so ists gut und wolgeschmack.

Take fresh cheese that was made overnight and add fine white flour and egg
yolks and stir it well. Make small cakes, place them on buttered paper, and
place it in a warm oven. Thus they will rise and become as hollow as sponges
inside. Serve them warm or cold in a bowl drizzled with melted butter and
sprinkled with sugar or slice them thin and round, place them in a bowl,
drizzle with rosewater and sprinkle with white sugar. This will be good and
delicious.

Du kanst auch wol ein Turten machen von einem solchen Teig / un kanst
es kalt lassen werden / die nennet man Kaese turten / und wenn du es wilt
auff ein Tisch geben / so besprengs mit Rosenwasser / unnd gibs kalt /
bestraew es mit weissem Zucker. Du magsts gantz geben oder zerschneiden.

You can also make a tart of this dough that is served cold and called 'Cheese
Tart'. If you want to serve it, drizzle it with rosewater and sprinkle it
with white sugar. Cou can serve it whole or cut it up.

And then there's this from the Anonymous Venetian. I'm not sure I figured the
intent correctly, but it looks like a second cousin to Rumpoldt's cheese
tart, a century or two early.

XL A white and rich "migliaciti" (cake)
If you want to make white cake in the best way that you can for 12 persons. 
Take enough leaven (fermenting bread dough) that is (for) about a bread and a
half, take water that is a little hot and mix it with the leaven so that it
makes strings (breaks up).  Take four fresh, good fat cheeses, ten eggs, two
pounds of fresh lard that has been well rendered with little smoke and well
strained.  And when the leaven is well working put it above flour in
quantities of about a dish (scudella pizola a dish of a specific and constant
size), and put in a a little water, and put in the chopped cheese (one of the
three) and add the eggs that you have.  Make this batter/dough soft and
tender, and put it into a hot but not too hot "testo" (pie dish designed to
cook pies on the fire) which has been well greased.  And scatter above the
two cheeses that you have chopped well, and above it add the hot strained
lard that you have, and put it to cook.  And if you want to make for more
persons or for less take the ingredients in the same way.

Giano

Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 13:05:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Pat <mordonna22 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] cakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Volker Bach <carlton_bach at yahoo.de> wrote:
>>>
I think that for cakes of the modern kind to
become copmmobn, you have to wait
for the advent of sodium bicarbonate and
mechanical or electric beaters.
<<<

Hmmm, most authentic pound cake recipes do not call for any leavening  
other than a strong arm and much beating.  Not so sure my Foster Mother  
in Law, Auntie Ruth ever owned an electric mixer, and her recipe did  
not call for baking soda or baking powder, just a pound of sugar, a  
pound of butter, a dozen eggs, and a pound  of flour, vanilla or lemon  
flavoring.  Butter was the preferred fat, but lard would do in a pinch.
However, I've not seen a near period recipe like this.

Mordonna

Pat Griffin
Lady Anne du Bosc
known as Mordonna the Cook
Shire of Thorngill, Meridies
Mundanely, Millbrook, AL

Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 23:45:02 +0200
From: Volker Bach <carlton_bach at yahoo.de>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] cakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Am Sonntag, 15. Mai 2005 22:05 schrieb Pat:
> Hmmm, most authentic pound cake recipes do not call for any leavening other
> than a strong arm and much beating.  Not so sure my Foster Mother in Law,
> Auntie Ruth ever owned an electric mixer, and her recipe did not call for
> baking soda or baking powder, just a pound of sugar, a pound of butter, a
> dozen eggs, and a pound  of flour, vanilla or lemon flavoring.  Butter was
> the preferred fat, but lard would do in a pinch. However, I've not seen a
> near period recipe like this.

You mean the ones that get their leavening by beating, beating, beating....?
That is exactly my point - the method is so time-consuming and tiring that it
must have been limited to exceptional occasions, or the tables of people who
didn't have to do it themselves.

BTW. I have traced the beaten-egg cake to the late 16th century, but it is
used for rusks.

Marx Rumpoldt:

Nimm weiß von Eyern / und nim eyn schoenen neuwen Hafen darzu / und
schoen weiß Mehl / mach ein Teig in denm Hafen ab / und schlag jn wol mit
einem hoelzern Loeffel / nimm Aniß und Coriander darunter / machs mit
weissem Zucker wol sueß / geuß ein wenig Rosenwasser darunter / unnd ein
wenig Saltz / du kanst auch wol ein Eydotter oder zween / die frisch seyn /
darunter nemmen. Nimm ein Oblat / der fein breit und laenglicht ist / thu
den Teig aus dem Hafen darauff mit einem hoeltzern Loeffel / scheubs
geschwindt in einen Ofen / daß der Teig nich voneinander fleußt / so wird
er fein in die hoeh aufflauffen / wenns gebacken ist / so thu es herauß /
und laß ein weil uberschlagen / schneidts nach der laeng etwan eins halben
Fingers dick / legs widerumb auff ein saubers Papier / oder auff ein Oblat
/ und scheubs wider in Ofen / der uberschlagen ist / kehrs offt umb auff
beyden seiten / daß fein außtrucknet / so werden sie gut unnd muerb. Unnd
man nennets Piscoten von lauter Eyerweiß.

Take the whites of eggs into a nice new pot, add good white flour and make
a dough in the pot. Beat it vigorously with a wooden spoon. Add anise and
coriander, sweeten it well with ground sugar, and add a little rosewater
and salt. You can also add an egg yolk or two if they are fresh. Take a
long and wide wafer and put the dough from the pot onto it with a wooden
spoon. Put it into the oven quickly so that it does not flow off the wafer,
then it will rise up nicely. When it is baked, take it out and let it
/uberschlagen/ (?) a while, then cut it lengthwise, about half a finger
thick, place it on clean paper or a wafer again and put it into an oven
that is /uberschlagen/ (?) and turn them over often. Thus they will become
good and crumbly. These are called rusks of pure egg whites.

Franz de Rontzier

Rißmehl unnd zerstossen Kanarienzucker vermischt man mit Rosenwasser und
Eyerdottern / schlegts zwey stundt zusamen so wirdt es gelb / darnach weiß /
böget einen bogen Papir ein / gibts darauff un machts im Ofen gahr / wenn es
beginnt trucken zu werden sol mans in kleine stücke schneiden unnd leggens
auff Papir eine ganze nacht in den Ofen und lests langsamb trucken das es
nicht braun werde /so kan mans wol ein halb Jahr wahren / wenn mans thun wil
mag mans mit Zucker bestrewen wen mans zerschneidet

Rice flour and canary sugar are mixed with rosewater and egg yolks and beaten
for two hours. First, the mixture turns yellow, then white. Bend a sheet of
paper, pour it into there and bake it in the oven. Once it starts to become
dry, cut it up into small pieces and slowly dry them in the oven on paper for
an entire night at a low temperature, so they do not turn brown. You can keep
these half a year, and if you want you can sprinkle them with sugar when you
cut them up.

I haven't seen it used in cakes before the 18th century, but my knowledge of
17th century cooking is very patchy indeed..

Giano

Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 17:39:00 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] cakes
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

According to the OED, pound cake is a cake containing one pound each of the
principle ingredients with the first reference in a work by Thackery in
1841.

A cake in period would have been a round, flattened loaf like a galette.

Bear

> I have a question in regards to cakes that I thought I
> would pose to the list.  I know cakes as we know
> them, the texture of birthday cakes you get at the
> bakery, or from a store bought mix  or home made cake
> are not period.  My question is, when abouts did cakes
> w/ the texture of pound cake come into play?  I have
> only found a recipe for 'an excellent cake' and by no
> means was it cake like we know of today, more like a
> cookie type of thing.
>
> Alexa

Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 21:38:33 -0400
From: "Ron Carnegie" <r.carnegie at verizon.net>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] cakes
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> According to the OED, pound cake is a cake containing one pound each of the
> principle ingredients with the first reference in a work by Thackery in
> 1841.
>
> A cake in period would have been a round, flattened loaf like a  
> galette.
>
> Bear

     This just sounded wrong, so I pulled out one of my 18th century
cookbooks.  Just the first one I grabbed, which happened to be Hannah
Glasse, THE ART OF COOKERY MADE PLAIN AND EASY.  This book, on page 309, has
a receipt for pound cake.  Most of the ingredients are in the quantity of a
pound.  This is the revised version of 1796 Though the forward says that
only the soap and beer receipts were added to the previous 1745 edition.  I
have no idea when pound cakes first appear, and would not be surprised if
they are not period to the SCA, but they do predate Thackery and 1841.

Ranald de Balinhard

Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 22:58:36 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
	<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] cakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Also sprach Terry Decker:
> The Oxford English Dictionary lists uses of a word or phrase.  Does
> the recipe specifically use the term pound cake?  If so, write the
> OED staff and let them know.  They'll probably add it to the usage
> list in the next edition.

It is called a pound cake, and uses a pound each of flour, butter,
and sugar, with twelve egg yolks and six whites (which may or may not
equal a pound, depending on egg size). It also allows for optional
caraway seeds. It's a little different in technique from the modern
cream cake version, and I get the impression this makes a pretty
dense cake (it's one of those "beaten for an hour" cakes), but it's
pretty recognizable as pound cake.

Adamantius

> Bear
>
>>    This just sounded wrong, so I pulled out one of my 18th century
>> cookbooks.  Just the first one I grabbed, which happened to be Hannah
>> Glasse, THE ART OF COOKERY MADE PLAIN AND EASY.  This book, on page 309, has
>> a receipt for pound cake.  Most of the ingredients are in the quantity of a
>> pound.  This is the revised version of 1796 Though the forward says that
>> only the soap and beer receipts were added to the previous 1745 edition. I
>> have no idea when pound cakes first appear, and would not be surprised if
>> they are not period to the SCA, but they do predate Thackery and 1841.
>>
>> Ranald de Balinhard

Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 08:49:39 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] cakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

There's a pound cake recipe (actually it calls for 2 pounds each of
butter, flour, sugar, plus eggs, rosewater, and 2 pounds of currants)
in Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery. The manuscripts that
make up the book are dated as Tudor-Jacobean or roughly 1580-1625
by the editor Karen Hess. These are baked in buttered pans, but the size
is not stated. See recipe S 149, pages 314-315.

Johnnae llyn Lewis

Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 09:42:54 -0600
From: Mary Morman <mem at rialto.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] cakes on a griddle
To: SCA-Cooks <SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org>

someone wrote:
Every cook in Wales has their own (and best!) version of "welsh cakes".
If you look at the recipes....these are Digby's fine cakes flattened out
and cooked on a griddle!  I've often wondered if I could get away with
"baking" them on a griddle at demo's where we do open fire pit cooking.
Does anyone have any documentation for medieval cooking of cakes on a
griddle???

I've made Digby cakes for many years, but recently when I was at the
Tudor Kitchen at the Weald and Downlands Open Air Museum near Chichester
the cook was making Digby Cakes on a griddle over an open fire.  It made
a really excellent demo and a very tasty treat.  We chatted about the
recipe and the source.  She didn't have a specific source for making
them on a griddle, but had just never considered any other method.

elaina

Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 09:20:08 -0400
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler1 at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Late SCA-Period Sweets?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Urtatim mentioned:
<<< There's a recipe in Digby for a barm raised spice cake -
and Johnnae has actually cooked it - that could work in the bundt
pan. >>>

I have made this cake several times (the one from Digby) and it came out
beautifully...resembled a spice cake more than anything else.  I
actually used it as the base for sotelties...I've made a dragon (used a
food-safe stainless steel wire as an armature...covered it with
marzipan), a map of Atlantia (same idea, only without the armature), and
a castle.  Didn't have any of those lovely cake pans at the time, so
built my own out of a square sheet pan, and four small springform pans
for the towers.

But the cake was delicious...and the ale barm worked nicely as a raising
agent.

Kiri

Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:43:54 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Seeking Simple Spiced Cakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Not sure that it is possible. A lot of the in period "cakes"
are yeast risen cakes with spices that resemble spiced breads.
You also get fine cakes or small cakes.

There's a pound cake recipe (actually it calls for 2 pounds each of
butter, flour, sugar, plus eggs, rosewater, and 2 pounds of currants)
in Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery. The manuscripts that
make up the book are dated as Tudor-Jacobean or roughly 1580-1625
by the editor Karen Hess. These are baked in buttered pans, but the size
is not stated. See recipe S 149, pages 314-315.
You might be able to add spices to that.

Johnnae_

_wildecelery at aol.com wrote:
>  My husband's B-day is saturday and there's a demo/event at the  
> local college group...Normally I make him a yellow cake with  
> cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg mixed in. i then top this with  
> sliced apples boiled in cider...like a very chunky hommemade  
> applesauce...  I'd like to do a period version of the cake for the  
> event...any suggestions?
>  -Ardenia

Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:41:32 +1300
From: Adele de Maisieres <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Seeking Simple Spiced Cakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Johnna Holloway wrote:

> Not sure that it is possible. A lot of the in period "cakes"
> are yeast risen cakes with spices that resemble spiced breads.
> You also get fine cakes or small cakes.
> There's a pound cake recipe (actually it calls for 2 pounds each of
> butter, flour, sugar, plus eggs, rosewater, and 2 pounds of currants)
> in Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery. The manuscripts that
> make up the book are dated as Tudor-Jacobean or roughly 1580-1625
> by the editor Karen Hess. These are baked in buttered pans, but the  
> size is not stated.

I think I've made this accidentally, because a perioid cake was needed
at an event on short notice and the ingredients on hand for a spiced and
currant-filled pound cake were available.

A one-pound cake fills a bundt pan, so I'm guessing a two pound cake
with two pounds of currants would do two deep tube pans or four loaves.
Mmmm... pound cake.  It helps if you have a heavy-duty electric mixer if
you want to do this in any quantity bugger than the one-pound version,
by the way.
-- 
Adele de Maisieres

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:41:50 -0500
From: "Elaine Koogler" <kiridono at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Random food-related questions....
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Yup...that's the one.  Here's my version of it.  To be honest, it's been a
while since I made this, but it turned out pretty well.  I used it as a base
for marzipan sotolties...and once as a wedding cake.  So I've never made the
icing described in the recipe.

Enjoy!

Kiri

4 Cups flour
3/4 pound butter
1 1/4 pounds currants
1 Tablespoon cloves, mace, nutmeg
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon saffron
1/4 cup dry sack
1/2 cup ale barm
ICING MIXTURE
2 Tablespoons rosewater
1 each egg white
sugar to taste

1.    Mix spices with flour, reserving a small amount to flour currants.

2.    Add melted butter, barm and rosewater.

3.    Four currants with reserved flour/spice mixture and fold into  
dough.

4.    Turn into a greased cake pan and bake in a 350 oven for 1 hour, 30
minutes or until done through the middle.

Yield: 1 cake

Notes: To a peck of fine flour, take 6 pounds of fresh butter, which must be
tenderly melted, ten pounds of Currants, of Cloves and mace, half an ounce 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 Rosewater, 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 better baking of it, put it in a hoop and let it stand in the oven one hour and a half.  You Ice the Cake with the whites of two Eggs, a small qauanty of Rosewater and some Sugar.

Cuisine: Period English

Categories: Period desserts

Source: The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Opened--redacted by E. Koogler
Copyright: 1997, Totnes, Devon, Great Britain

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 22:21:58 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Random food-related questions....
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

On 11/14/06, Sue Clemenger <mooncat at in-tch.com> wrote:
> Would a sherry do if I can't find sack?
> --Maire

Most of the sack I've been able to find these days is sherry.  The  term as
used in the 16th and 17th Centuries however covers almost any light, dry,
fortified wine produced in Spain or the Canary Islands.

Bear

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	cakes-msg	 of