Following the huge success of my previous attempt at making a recipe from one of the old recipe books held here at the archives, I thought it best to give it another go. As most people are still home schooling, here’s an easy recipe with a dash of history added for flavour (although you might want to substitute the brandy)!
First to decide which of the many recipes to try. Looking to the time of year for inspiration, I felt it had to be some sort of cake. In Anglo-Saxon days, February was called Solmōnaþ (Sol-Monath) which can be translated to ‘Sun Month’ or ‘Mud Month’ but also ‘Month of the hearthcakes’, and according to the Venerable Bede, “Sol-Monath can be said to be the month of cakes, which were offered to their gods”.
As it’s now Lent, I thought I’d look for something with an Easter theme. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any recipes for a Simnel Cake (now regarded as an Easter speciality, although it was not always so) but whilst looking through the “Old Manor House Cookery Book” from the Bridge family of Clifton Maybank and Piddletrenthide collection I found a recipe for some “Easter Cakes”…
The recipe is a fairly simple one as follows:
2lbs flour
¾ [lb] white sugar
¾ [lb] currants
¾ [lb] melted butter
Wine glass of brandy
4 eggs well beaten and strained
I’m not sure how many people the Bridges were planning to feed with this recipe, but I thought it prudent to divide the quantities by four! This was enough for 10 cakes.
The directions are basic as well:
Mix all well together and bake in a moderate oven on buttered tins a quarter of an hour. Spice to your taste.
The recipes in this book range from circa 1855-1934, and given that gas ovens were not common until the early 1900’s and electric ovens did not begin to compete with them until the late 1920’s, this probably dates the recipe to the mid to late 19th century. A moderate oven is about 180°C.
The recipe gives no reference to any shape or decoration of the cake, which is unusual as Easter cakes and breads seem to be traditionally laden with symbolism in their shapes. As there was no instruction and it seemed to be very much like a rock cake mixture, I settled for just separating out into small mounds on the baking tray.
15 minutes later and some delicious cakes!
If anyone knows whether this recipe for Easter Cakes is a traditional one for Dorset or the South-West and whether there is any particular shape or decoration to them, we’d be interested to know!