Shrewsbury Cakes: A Simple But Delicious British
Delight:
For an April Fool’s Day event
I ran in 2017 one of the things I wanted to do was make silly food. One of the things I made was “fish cakes”,
which were actually fish-shaped cookies. Of course, I needed a recipe for an
SCA period cookie. Shrewsbury Cakes were
a perfect selection. The first thing to know about Shrewsbury Cakes is that
they are not really cakes at all, they are cookies, or biscuits. (Davidson,
2014) Made with flour, sugar and butter, they are
very much like shortbread cookies and are known for being flavoured with spices
and/or rosewater. (Davidson, 2014)
Origins:
The book entitled The Taste of Britain by Laura Mason and
Catherine Brown suggests Shrewsbury Cakes were first documented in the 1500’s,
referring to their crisp and brittle texture.
(Baking for Britain, 2007). Specifically,
there appears to be reference to Shrewsbury Cakes in 1596 when, due to a
shortage of grain, there was a ban on making these “fine cakes” in Shrewsbury.
(Eve, 2014) There are several literary references to Shrewsbury Cakes including
many cookbooks. (White, 2014) One of the most notable and early literary
references to the crisp and brittle texture of these biscuits comes from Lord
Herbert of Cherbury when writing to his guardian, Sir George More in 1602:
“Lest you think this country ruder than it is, I have sent you some
bread, which I am sure will be dainty, howsoever it be not pleasinge; it is a
kind of cake which our country people use and made in no place in England but
in Shrewsbury; if you vouchsafe to taste them, you will enworthy the country
and sender. Measure not my love in substance of it, which is brittle, but the
form of it, which is circular.” (Eve,
2014)
This reference to Shrewsbury,
a town in the county of Shropshire, England, is very likely the origin of the
name of these delicious cookies. Since
then, the Shrewsbury Cake name has gained in fame and is a well known cookie in
Britain, with many flavour variations used including rosewater, cinnamon,
nutmeg, lemon or orange, and even dried fruit. (Davidson, 2014)
Recipes:
It is possible the first
recorded recipe for “fine cakes” comes from a 1617 cookbook by John Murrell
entitled A Daily Exercise for Ladies and
Gentlewomen:
“To make a fine Sugar cake. Bake
a pound of fine wheat flower in a pipkin close coured, put thereto halfe a
pound of fine Sugar, foure yolkes and one white of egs, Pepper and Nutmegs,
straine them with clouted creame, and with a new Ale yest, make it in past, as
it were for Manchet bake it in a quicke ouen with a breath fire in the ouens
mouth, but beware of burning them.” (The Copper Pot, 2014)
A cookbook published soon
after in 1623 entitled Couentry
Contentments, or The English Hous-wife Booke by Gervase Markham also
records a recipe for “fine cakes” but this recipe does not contain yeast:
“To make fine cakes; take a pottle of fine flour, and a pound of butter,
a pound of sugar, a little mace and a good store of water to (as will) mingle
the flower into a stiffe paste, and a good season of salt and so knead it, and
roll out the cake thin and bake them on papers.” (Markham, 1623 and Carr, 2000)
The first recorded recipe for
a “fine cake” using the actual title of Shrewsbury
Cakes was published in The Compleat
Cook by W. M. in 1658:
“To
make Shrewsbury Cakes: Take two pound of floure
dryed in the Oven and weighed after it is dryed, then put to it one pound of
Butter that must be layd an hour or two in Rose-water, so done poure the Water
from the Butter, and put the Butter to the flowre with the yolks and whites of
five Eggs, two races of Ginger, and three quarters of a pound of Sugar, a
little salt, grate your spice, and it well be the better, knead all these
together till you may rowle the past, then roule it forth with the top of a
bowle, then prick them with a pin made of wood, or if you have a comb that hath
not been used, that will do them quickly, and is best to that purpose, so bake
them upon Pye plates, but not too much in the Oven, for the heat of the Plates
will dry them very much, after they come forth of the Oven, you may cut them
without the bowles of what bignesse or what fashion you please”. (Hughes, 2018)
My Personal Redaction:
My personal redaction takes my
gluten-free diet into account. There are not that many ingredients in a
Shrewsbury Cake, with wheat flour being the only ingredient containing gluten.
With that said, I have swapped out wheat flour for white rice flour. Available
since ancient Greek and Roman times, rice flour was quite a staple and highly
regarded grain in the Middle Ages, so it is not inconceivable to think it could
be used in a Shrewsbury Cake. (Adamson, 2004) The most important part to
getting the crisp and brittle texture to a Shrewsbury Cake is the flour to
butter ratio. Too much flour and the
dough becomes too crumbly and falls apart.
Too much butter and the dough melts into a bubbly puddle in the
oven. I find that a 2-parts rice flour
to 1-part butter ratio works best with the sugar being the same weight as the
butter. And yes, weighing will give you
the most accurate measurements! My
personal flavour of choice is cinnamon; the recipe doesn’t need very much to
give it a nice little kick without being overpowering.
Isolda’s Gluten-Free Shrewsbury Cakes:
- 1 lb finely ground rice flour
- 8 oz butter
- 8 oz caster sugar (known as superfine sugar or
special fine sugar)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 egg lightly beaten
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter and rub through fingers until
mixture resembles peas. Add just enough
egg to bring dough together (you need less than you think!). Roll between two pieces of parchment paper
VERY thin. Cut into desired shape (the
circle is the traditional shape). Bake
at 325 F for 5-8 minutes until crisp.
Yields approximately 150 biscuits.
(Shapes come out better if refrigerated for a time before baking. It is also possible to freeze cut shapes
ahead of time for easier prep.)
The samples I had available on display at EK Spring Crown went so fast I didn't have time to take a photo of them but here's a photo of what they looked like at "Fool's Paradise" as "fish" cakes:
References:
1)
Adamson, Melitta Weis. Food In
Medieval Times c2004, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT.
2)
Baking
for Britain (blog) by AnnaW. Shrewsbury Cakes from Shropshire, May 4
2007. http://bakingforbritain.blogspot.ca/2007/05/shrewsbury-cakes-from-shropshire.html Accessed online May 1, 2018.
3)
Carr,
Judith. Cinnamon and sugar cakes: The Historical Cookery Page. Page
copyright James L. Matterer 2000.
Accessed online May 1 2018. http://www.godecookery.com/friends/frec13.htm
4)
Davidson,
Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food.
Copyright 2014, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
5)
Eve,
Nick Trustram. Shrewsbury Cakes (17th Century): The Copper Pot (blog). November 1, 2014. Accessed online May 1, 2018. https://www.thecopperpot.co.uk/single-post/2014/11/1/Shrewsbury-Cakes-17th-century.
6)
Hughes, Glyn. The
Foods of England Project: Cakes. Accessed online May 1 2018. Copyright Glyn Huhges 2018. http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/shrewsburycakes.htm
7)
Markham,
Gervase. Couentry Contentments, or The
English Hous-wife Booke. Copyright
1623. Accessed online at LSE Digital Library on May 1, 2018. https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:heh898zor
8)
White,
Joyce. Shrewsbury Cakes: The Best Way
to Use Caraway! A Taste of History with
Joyce White (blog) , Sept 3, 2014.
Accessed online May 1, 2018. http://atasteofhistorywithjoycewhite.blogspot.ca/2014/09/shrewsbury-cakes-best-way-to-use-caraway.html
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