#seed cake

[dvoeverie-stitches]

Lammas Eve treats

[sachermorte]

[morethansalad]

Old-Fashioned Seed Cake (Vegan)

[clove-pinks]

A friend and I have a question about Georgian seed-cakes, and, having followed your quest for an authentic period seed-cake, I thought I would apply to you for assistance! All of the period seed-cake recipes we have seen seem to be light sponges, but we encountered a reference in The Lyon in Mourning to a piece of seed-cake being sent from Edinburgh to Rome around the 1760s/1770s, as a gift for Charles Edward Stuart from a Jacobite Supporter.

"Ay !" said he [Charles Edward Stuart], "a piece of cake from Scotland, and from Edinburgh too !" Then rising from his seat and opening a drawer, "Here," said he, "you see me deposite it, and no teeth shall go upon it but my own!"

Do you have any knowledge of a historical seed-cake recipe that might travel so well as that?

Thank you for the interesting question! I have only traveled briefly with seed cakes, so I don't have a specific recipe that I can recommend for that purpose. One of my cookbooks explores the historical background of seed cake, the excellent Setting a Fine Table: Historic Desserts and Drinks from the Officers' Kitchens at Fort York by Elizabeth Baird and Bridget Wranich.

Baird and Wranich adapt a recipe from 1755, "A Seed Cake, Very Rich" written by Elizabeth Cleland in A New and Easy Method of Cookery. They explain, "Early seed cakes were raised by the addition of yeast. Initially, eggs were added to enrich the cake and, as recipes evolved, they eventually replaced yeast as the leavening. In the 18th century, it was popular to serve seed cakes at harvest time." And they contrast its dense, moist fine crumb against airy commercial pound cakes of the present day.

I found a cookbook from the specific historical era you mention, The Compleat Housewife, Or, Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion by Eliza Smith, published 1773. There are at least five different recipes for seed cake in this book, all over the place: "A good Seed Cake," "Another Seed Cake," "A rich Seed Cake, called the Nun's Cake." (I've never heard of Nun's Cake). The first one I found seemed pretty different from the recipe I use, although it does have the very metal verbiage "blood-warm."

Some of her alternate recipes are closer to what I make, using brandy for depth of flavour and just whipped eggs for leavening.

Every seed cake recipe I have made, including the not-very-historical one in The Fort George Bill of Fare that uses baking powder, produces a very dense, rich, butter-heavy cake. I imagine that if you tightly wrapped it it would travel well and stay moist, and the addition of more alcohol is also a possibility (some of Eliza Smith's recipes call for sack i.e. fortified wine).

Both Cleland and Smith specify using the hands to work the butter into a cream, and Baird and Wranich note that their museum staff and historical interpreters do this for visitors at Fort York. (I find an electric mixer much faster and easier).

[lookashiny]

(via Bilbo's Seed Cakes - Perfect for a Hobbit Tea - Good Cheap Eats)

[jackalgirl]

I tried making Mrs. Crocombe’s seed cake today and was 100% sure it was going to be a disaster:

we were inexplicably out of AP flour and I made up the difference using bread flour

had to add a fair amount of water in order to get to the same looking dough because I misnoted the milk in teaspoons instead of tablespoons, and so had only 1/3 of the liquid the recipe called for

mistakingly left out the egg yolks

I had to use a much larger springform pan

probably should have left it in the oven another 10 minutes

but with all of that said, it honestly didn’t turn out too badly -- just the right amount of sweet for my own personal taste (slightly sweet, not candy-sweet).

Aethel: And the kitchen did not burn down?

And the kitchen did not burn down.

[alexsrandomramblings]

Lovely color on that seed cake. Smells really good too.

[tamilhobbit]

Randomtober Day 5 - Feast

I decided to do the Unexpected Party from the start of The Hobbit. 😁

I didn't do every single food the Dwarves asked for, but I did try to include as many as I could: pickles, cold chicken, pork pies, apple tart, mince pies, coffee, tea, cheese, seed-cake, scones and butter, red wine, ale, porter, and boiled eggs.

Can't quite get the colours right on my phone camera, sadly. I think they're nicer IRL. Also messed up a few times - this is a new paint set from my sister and I am loving the colours, but the brush has a couple of loose bristles. 😩