Soul Cakes are an echo of the sacrificial foods of the Celtic festival of Samhain held in early autumn. These little cakes were traditionally set out with glasses of wine on All Hallows Eve for the souls of the dead. On All Saints Day children would go "souling" calling out "Soul, Soul, for a Soul Cake: pray you good mistress, a soul cake".Well, we missed Halloween and All Saints Day, didn't we? So maybe I will make some soul cake for Christmas instead.
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup caster/superfine sugar4 cups plain flour, sifted
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon allspice
3 tablespoons currants
a little milk
Cream the butter and sugar together
Beat in the egg yolks.
Fold in the sifted flour and spices.
Stir in the currants.
Add enough milk to make a soft dough.
Form into flat cakes and mark each top with a cross.
Bake on a well-greased baking tray in a hot oven until golden.
Cream? Beat? Fold? Stir? Form? I can stir. And probably form. I know "bake".
Don't want to embarrass myself but it sure looks like a donut to me.
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Peter, Paul & Mary > Movin'> a'soalin':
Hey ho, nobody home, meat nor drink nor money have I none
Yet shall we be merry, Hey ho, nobody home.
Hey ho, nobody home, Meat nor drink nor money have I none
Yet shall we be merry, Hey ho, nobody home.
Hey Ho, nobody home.
Soal, a soal, a soal cake, please good missus a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum, a cherry,
any good thing to make us all merry,
One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him who made us all.
The streets are very dirty, my shoes are very thin.
I have a little pocket to put a penny in.
If you haven't got a penny, a ha' penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha' penny then God bless you.
Soal, a soal, a soal cake, please good missus a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum, a cherry,
any good thing to make us all merry,
One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him who made us all.
Listen to a free short clip of A'Soaling. (click on start button in center of page)
It does look exactly like a doughnut (my spell check doesn't like donuts). It must be made from a different recipe because it has neither currants nor a cross on top. I'd never heard of soul/soal cake before. My spell checker doesn't like soal either.
ReplyDeleteYour spellchecker is elitist. You must be using the version that lets you put all those extra "Us" and "Ts" in and lets you put the ending "Rs" in reverse order. :) Doughnuts fits American too. But you know how lazy we are... we use the shortest permitted spelling. And donuts is permitted. I like your version better with the currants and the cross. Hot cross buns. Soal is really archaic. Even by American dictionary standards. It's in the song. What do I know? Get me the good recipe then. And more Christmas recipes that are historically correct. No Yule Log treatments, thanks. :)
ReplyDeleteDraft beer. Draft beer. Draft beer.
Donut. Do not nut.
ReplyDeleteAnd there are no nuts in them either, which is confusing.
I prefer jam filled doughnuts to ring doughnuts. Raspberry jam filled ones are best.
Soal cake I never heard of. The rhyme I remember is:
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat,
Please to put a penny in the old man's hat;
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do,
If you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you!
However, being intrigued, i searched further, doing the googling so despised here. I look on it as being no less worthy than research in a library, of which I have done enough in my time, just as in a library, there will be dubious sources and spurious references, but that's just a challenge to an agile mind.
Google found me this:
Soul, a soul, a souling cake,
Please, good. Missus, a souling-cake.
Apple, a pear,a plum or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for Him that made us all,
Up in the kitchen and down in the Hall.
My face is very dirty, my shoes are very thin,
I've got a little pocket to put a penny in.
If you haven't got a penny, a half-penny will do,
If you haven't got a half-penny. God bless you.
Souling night has come at last,
And we are souling here.
Please put a penny in the old man's hat,
If you haven't got a penny, a half-penny will do,
If you haven't got a half-penny, God bless you.
From:
http://www.historyofuptonbychester.org.uk/wip33.htm
@Soubriquet - Thank you for that. Very interesting. And I don't despise Google at all, although I make it seem like I do from time to time. It is a good reference tool to verify facts and add to what we already know. I just prefer more personal recollections when possible, and it takes the fun out of "quizzes" and such when they appear in a post. I prefer to draw out my readers' memories instead. And few have been more faithful than you in sharing your memories. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHadn't heard of this before, but thanks Max and Soubriquet for edificating me in the meaning of soul cakes
ReplyDeleteSage, we are all going to have to get our heads together and create the world's strangest cookbook. :)
ReplyDeleteIf they are supposed to be an remembrance of pagan times, why not mark them with a pentagram rather than a cross.
ReplyDeleteI would more probably use a recipe based on butter and honey or mead. I'll check my cookbook shelf and post if I find one.
After all Britain was a pagan land for many more years than it has been 'Christian'.
We are asked to welcome recent immigrants' cultures and religions and their festivals, yet paganism is either regarded as weird or equated with 'devil' worship.
I'm not a racist or a member of the BNP, I just want to see all of Britain's cultural and religious heritage respected and observed, not just one part of it.
I will be celebrating the solstice this weekend, may even get to Stonehenge, but if not, will at least salute the dawn from the top of Portsdown Hill near my home in Havant.
Merry Meet and a joyous Yule to all!
Hi Jenny. I don't know. I think they were supposed to be just plain cakes for Halloween or All Souls Day. Not sure where the cross decoration started coming in. Anyway, I sure would love your recipe. And a little more history sometime when you have the time. The Christmas tree is not really originally a Christmas tradition either, is it? I mean it is not a Christian symbol. This American has just become interested in Stonehenge. I think I will research a post.
ReplyDelete