Thanks so much to everyone who watched my Facebook Live recipe video with Amanda Downum! We both draw hugely on history for our writing, so we decided to show you how to make an insanely rich, decadent, historically inspired dessert that was well loved by wealthy Brits from the Tudors […]
Tag: Food History
Hobbit Week: Shire-tastic Seed Cake
Many modern readers imagine seed cake to be chock full of sunflower or pumpkin seeds, but it turns out Tolkien grew up on a decadently buttery version of pound cake full of caraway seeds. They have a sweet, licorice flavor reminiscent of a milder, earthier version of anise seeds. You […]
Ichabod Crane’s Colonial Cider Cake with Bonus Heart Shaped Pan Review
Cake has not always been an overly sweet confection topped with a thick and offensive paste of tasteless fat and sugar. Nay, there was a time when civilized people sat down to tea and enjoyed a few scant bites of sweetness to awaken the senses and delight the tongue during […]
Charles Dickens Very Own Christmas Punch
This is one of my favorite recipes in SteamDrunks: 101 Steampunk Cocktails and Mixed Drinks. First, it’s incredibly drinkable (unlike some of the bemusingly terrifying Victorian milk drinks). Second, it’s a perfect social drink on a dark winter night. Finally, who doesn’t love pretentious authors using any excuse to show […]
Hobbit Week: Easy Shire Porter Cake
Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients. This isn’t fancy Elven baking chemistry. Like most Shire foods, this is good, solid stuff that can handle a lot of improvisation depending on what you happen to have in your pantry. All you really need is some butter, sugar, flour, eggs, […]
Hobbit Week: Plum Heavies
Chocolate and vanilla may seem ubiquitous today, but they’re actually both new world beans. That means Tolkien explicitly excluded them from the Shire, even though both flavors were quite popular in Victorian England. Plum Heavies were the cheap, kids cookies of their day. Victorian country cooks would knead in a […]