Foods of England - Mrs Duke's Cake

Mrs Duke’s Cake

Cakes
Historic

Rich fruit cake of flour, eggs, butter, ale-yeast, sweet spices, dried fruit, almonds and sugar baked very slowly then iced with a mixture of finely powdered sugar and rosewater (WM 1658). This is the first known receipt for an iced rich fruit cake.

Original Receipt in WM 1658;

Mrs. Dukes Cake.
Take a quarter of a peck of the finest flour, a pint of Cream, ten yolks of Eggs well beaten, three quarters of a pound of butter gently melted, pour on the floure a little Ale-yeast, a quarter of a pint of Rose water, with some Muske, and Amber-grece dissolved in it, season all with a penny worth of Mace and Cloves, a little Nutmeg finely beaten, Currans one pound and a halfe, Raisins of the Sun stoned, and shred small one pound, Almonds blanch’d and beaten, halfe a pound, beat them with Rosewater to keep them from Oyling: Sugar beaten very small, half a pound; first mingle them, knead all these together, then let them lie a full houre in the Dough together, then the Oven being made ready, make up your Cake, let not the oven be too hot, nor shut up the mouth of it too close, but stir the Cake now and then that it may bake all a like, let it not stand a full hour in the Oven. Against you draw it have some Rose water and Sugar finely beaten, and well mixed together to wash the upper side of it, then set it in the Oven to dry, when you draw it out, it will shew like Ice.

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