General Chat

Hello
Ive recently been going through my Greatgrandmothers old handwritten recipe book which is in very poor condition, but i can just make out the recipes for the above cakes, i would like to try making them but the recipe for the Maids of honour require ground rice? not sure about this ingredient.
The Belgium cake recipe is more difficult to read, the method i can follow but the ingredients for it are unclear has anyone got recipes for these 2 cakes?
Many thanks.

Isn't ground rice still sold in supermarkets?. I don't cook but I know my mother always had some in the cupboard. It just looked like powdery white stuff in a cellophane packet......sorry I am not the most domesticated person...lol...jl

Found this account on the web.........

I recently came across an interesting story that tells of how King Henry VIII named the ‘Maid of Honour’ cakes after seeing Anne Boleyn and other maids eating the sweet pastries at Richmond Palace. He was so delighted with the cakes that he imprisoned the cook and demanded she only produce the cakes for those of his choosing. He also ordered her to keep the recipe secret and some say even locked it up in an iron box in Richmond Palace.



Richmond Palace
Another version of the story claims that the tarts originated in the kitchens of Hampton Court Palace and that Henry VIII rediscovered the secret recipe that had been locked away and presented it to one of Catherine of Aragon’s ladies in waiting, Anne Boleyn. She then made the cakes for the King who in turn named them ‘Maid of Honour’ after her.

The much sought after tarts in Tudor Times were filled with fruit and it was not until the 17th century that they took on the form of cheesecakes or tarts filled with ground almond scented with rose water or orange flower water.

When the pastries were first produced commercially in the 18th century, the baker had to pay a large amount of money for the ‘secret’ recipe.

Today you can enjoy one of these delicious pastries made from the family secret recipe from Newens in Kew Gardens. The bakery and tearoom serve a number of mouth watering delights!

jl

Does this look like any of the ingredients. ?
Again I have found this on the web as it wasn't in my old cook book-jl


Ingredients

3/4lb flour
1/2lb dripping
6oz Demerara sugar
4oz currants
4oz raisins
1 small teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3/4 pint warm water
(see measure conversions for more information)


Method

- Put the water into a saucepan with the dripping, sugar and fruit.
- Gently bring the ingredients to the boil.
- Continue boiling for 5 minutes.
- Leave until cold.
- Mix the flour and spice and sift them.
- Stir the flour and spice into the fruit mixture.
- Add the bicarbonate of soda dissolved in a teaspoon of warm water.
- Turn into a well greased 7 inch tin and bake at 200 degrees C. for 2 hours until firm to the touch.

From: The New Art of Cookery, according to the present practice…; by Richard Briggs; 1792.

Maids of Honour.
Take half a pint of sweet curds, beat them well in a marble mortar till they are as smooth as butter. Put in half a pint of cream, the yolks of four eggs, the whites of two, well beaten and strained through a sieve; a quarter of a pound of fresh butter melted, a little grated lemon-peel, and nutmeg, one ounce of candied citron shred very fine, a glass of brandy, and a spoonful of orange flower water; sweeten it to your palate with powder sugar, mix the ingredients all well together, have your patty pans very small, sprinkle on a little flour, put a thin puff-paste over them, more than half fill them, and bake them in a moderate oven.

Maid of Honour Cakes

PERIOD: Modern | SOURCE: Contemporary Recipe | CLASS: Not Authentic

DESCRIPTION: A modern recipe for a traditional English treat



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
....a more modern version.....

1/2 pint whole milk
2 tablespoons fine dried bread crumbs
4 ounces of butter, melted
2 ounces finely ground almonds
1/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 lemon, zested (i.e. peel of 1 lemon finely grated)
2 dozen round puff pastry shells, 1-2 inches in diameter
powdered sugar
In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine the milk and bread crumbs. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine the bread mixture, butter, almonds, sugar, eggs, and zest. Mix well.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Fill each pastry shell with a tablespoon of the filling. Place on a baking sheet and bake until golden, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Garnish with powdered sugar and serve.

Recipe adapted from The Good Fare and Cheer of Old England by Joan Parry Dutton, published by Reynal.

Recipe contributed by Nikki Schultz to the Gode Cookery E

......whilst I don't enjoy cooking, I don't mind if you want to send me some examples of the "Maid of Honours".....just the first dozen will do.....not bothered about the Belguim cake.....lol.....j

Hi
The ingredients for the Maids of Honour cakes are....
Butter
1 egg
line tins with pastry (im presuming this is shortcrust)
Rasberry jam
4 ounce of Ground Rice
4 ounce of Sugar
Ground almonds
Almond essence
Janet im not a great baker but i have never heard of ground rice maybe thats why!
Thanks again

Janet
Thanks for all that info, interesting its funny the book has some strange recipes in it, not just cakes etc but recipes for the heart and blood (some weird ingredients such as vinegar of squills and goldon rod!)
recipe for cleaning chimneys and floor polish to name but a few
Thanks again.

OOH would you please put these delightful sounding cakes on Culinary delights Pleeeease.

Thank you
Bridget

15.35hrs in Spain

..just come back to see when my cakes are coming......looks like I will have to sort them out myself.

The recipe that you have provided definitely looks more like the one my mum used. I think she used to have a small recipe book whick was provided from Bero flour, which she probably got in the 1930's when she was first married. -jl

I have ground rice.It makes shortbread crunch and,no doubt,will do the same for these.

It seems you can't buy flaked rice any more.Nor can you buy sago in ordinary supermarkets but it seems it is available under another name in Asian supermarkets.

"Yuk" sago,' I'm not surprised they don't sell it in the supermarket. What is Urdu for 'frogs spawn' ?
jl

Sad as I am.I love sago and tapioca. I love all milk puddings.

And now I have said that,I am going to have to go and make one.

I was the sad kid at school who didn't like ice-cream much but would eat anybody's butter beans or custard.

Sophisticated palate,not here.

Sharm, yes ground rice can be found in the supermarkets. And it is shortcrust pastry for the base. Years since I made them myself but I could just eat one now.

Last saw sago in Wxxxxxse a while back whilst I was hunting for semolina.

One of my Aunts and Uncles first met at work in the Maids of Honour, Newens bakery in Richmond, which is just outside Kew Gardens. As Janet says, the recipe is meant to be secret so if you have it you are very lucky and you will just have to keep trying to decipher it.

Golden Rod grows in my garden by the way.

Hi
Thanks for the replies
I am going to have a go this weekend at making the Maids of Honour if i can find the ground rice using the recipe i have, im rubbish at sponges but i can make pastry so just see how they go.
Dizzie lizzie thats a lovely story, i had no idea they were a secret recipe! wonder how she got it maybe its a variation.
Sharm.