Burlington Book Signing

Everyone deserves goodies. But a really great author who has entertained and captivated us with the emotional rollercoaster that is A Song of Ice and Fire deserves extra swag. Being the foodies that we are, we decided to make up a gift basket for George RR Martin when he started his book signing tour in MA.

Being a creative sort, Chelsea just couldn’t help herself, and may have gotten a little carried away…

The swag basket included a medieval pork pie, cheese and olives, a small bottle of local cognac, traditional oatcakes with both blackberries and pine nuts, our new ultimate lemoncakes, potted hare, mulling spices, and our own little gag gift: a small bottle of “Tears of Lys”. The parcels were wrapped in a combination of linen cloth and hand woven inkle bands before getting their individual labels. Into the basket, lined with leather and fur, for the perfect presentation.

After Sariann finished work, we piled into the car with a couple of our Inn-mates (Ha!), and headed for Burlington. At the bookstore, the lines were predictably around the entire side of the building, fans all abuzz with excitement about the new book and meeting George. We felt like superheroes in disguise wearing our snazzy aprons as the bookstore staff ushered us in and handed us off to the uber efficient Random House marketing folks, who in turn took us to The Martin.

George was kind enough to take a few minutes to chat with us about food, and the contents of the gift basket.

He also signed our aprons:

George signs apron

This was pretty much one of the best nights of our lives…

Lemoncakes, part 2

Elizabethan Lemoncakes, version 1

*UPDATE: If you dip the tops of the Elizabethan cakes in Lemon Curd, they become exquisitely delicious. I can’t keep them in the house for more than a few hours!*

Thoughts:

First of all, I’d like to thank the author over at Phantasmagorical Musings for her wonderful breakdown of the essential qualities of a Game of Thrones lemon cake. With such clear, concise standards, I were inspired to give the lemon cakes another go.

Round 2 of Battle Lemon Cakes was highly successful. Both the modern and period recipes yielded baked goods that would make top quality additions to any afternoon tea, whether in London, or King’s Landing. For a truly Game-of-Thronsian culinary experience, however, the period recipe can’t be beat.

The period recipe is Elizabethan; it results in deliciously dense lemon poppy-seed cakes with sweet lemony glaze. Although these cakes have a heavier consistency than the modern ones, they go down easily. Too easily. Don’t be shy with the lemon glaze, however, since most of the lemon flavor seems to bake out of the cakes.

The modern recipe, courtesy of Martha Stewart, produces soft sweet cakes with a consistency between pound cake and corn muffins. Mine puffed up a little more than they ought to have, so we might decrease the leavening just a bit next time.

Bottom Line: Tea drinker? Make both. Planing a premier party? The Elizabethan lemon cakes are a must.

Am I happy? Yes. Are they perfect? So very nearly. But I believed the third time would be the charm, and I was right. The winningest two lemoncake recipes are in the cookbook!

Elizabethan Lemon Cakes II

This is an original recipe, based on cake receipts from A.W.’s Book of Cookrye (1591) and The English Huswife by Gervase Markham, 1615. A round cake such as this is described in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, where it is compared to the shape of the medieval round shield, the Buckler.

Our changes: The original recipe didn’t call for lemon, which I added in. It also didn’t specify a type of seed, so I opted for the classic pairing of lemon and poppyseed. Makes ~9 lemoncakes.

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. warm ale
2 1/2 tsp. instant yeast
1/2 stick unsalted butter (4 Tbs.)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbs. poppy seeds
juice and zest of 1 lemon
~2 cups unbleached flour
1/8 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in warm ale, along with 1Tbs. of the flour mixture. Your yeast should bubble up after a few minutes, indicating that the yeast is active.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and seeds, followed by the lemon zest and juice. Gently add the yeast to this mixture, then begin to fold in the flour and salt. Use as much flour as is needed to make a smooth, thick batter. Grease your cupcake pan, and fill the cups 2/3 full. Bake in middle of oven at 350° F for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool slightly before turning onto a cake rack.

For an extra lemony kick, try topping your cakes with lemon curd!

Modern Lemon Cakes II

Compliments of kitchen maven Martha Stewart, but I wasn’t that big a fan of the finished cakes. :)

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
Zest of 2 lemons, finely grated
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in lowest position, and grease your cupcake pans.
In a small bowl (or liquid measuring cup), combine buttermilk with lemon zest and juice. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three parts alternately with the buttermilk mixture in two, beginning and ending with flour; beat just until smooth (do not overmix).
Divide batter evenly between pans; smooth tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, ~15 minutes (tent with foil if browning too quickly). Cool 15 minutes in pan. Turn out cakes onto a rack; cool completely before glazing.

Lemon Cakes

Medieval Lemon Cakes

“Later came sweetbreads and pigeon pie and baked apples fragrant with cinnamon and lemon cakes frosted in sugar, but by then Sansa was so stuffed that she could not manage more than two little lemon cakes, as much as she loved them. “

Modern Lemon Cakes

Our thoughts:

The modern recipe, while good, could use a little improvement. We’d lessen the leavening to get a slightly denser cake. As it stands, the cake is neither light enough for an airy cake, nor dense enough for something like a pound cake. There are definitely lemon cupcakes that have a clearer sense of their own identity than these little cakelettes.

As for the medieval recipe, it tastes good, but lacks that proper lemon kick. The glaze helps, but it is more a cookie with lemon frosting than a proper lemon cake. Unsatisfactory, when one desires a cake!

Bottom line? One too ambiguous, the other too cookie-like. Both have their ups, and both definitely have their downs. But what’s that you say? Perhaps we are too demanding where Lemon Cakes are concerned?

The hunt for the ideal Lemon Cake shall continue…

**NOTE! If you’re having trouble with the Elizabethan Lemoncakes from the cookbook, be advised that a little water or lemon juice is recommended to bring together an especially dry dough.**

Medieval Lemon Cake Recipe

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

Take fine flowre and good Damaske water you must have no other liquor but that, then take sweet butter, two or three yolkes of egges and a good quantity of Suger, and a fewe cloues, and mace, as your Cookes mouth shall serue him, and a lyttle saffron, and a little Gods good about a sponfull if you put in too much they shall arise, cutte them in squares lyke vnto trenchers, and pricke them well, and let your ouen be well swept and lay them vppon papers and so set them into the ouen. Do not burne them if they be three or foure dayes olde they bee the better.

– Dawson, Thomas. The good huswifes Iewell. London: Edward White, 1596.

Our Changes: To make these lemony cakes, we added lemon zest to the dough, and basted the finished cookies in a lemon-honey sauce. We also took out the rosewater to eliminated possible flavor rivalry.

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. butter, softened
1/4 heaping cup sugar
3 egg yolks
zest from one lemon
1/2 tsp. hartshorn (or baking soda), dissolved in 1 tsp. of hot water
1/4 tsp. each salt, cloves and mace
pinch saffron
1 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
juice from one lemon
1 tbs honey

Cream together the butter & sugar until smooth; beat in the egg yolks. Blend in the dissolved hartshorn or baking soda, then the zest, salt & spices. Stir in the flour and work until a ball of dough is formed. Knead gently until smooth, working in more flour if necessary.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a 1/4 ” thickness. With a floured butter knife, cut the dough into small squares or rectangles. Make decorative vent holes on the cakes by pricking with a fork, then place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a preheated 300° F oven for 14-15 minutes until just done. Be sure that they do not brown on the bottom. Cool on a wire rack. While they are cooling, mix the lemon juice and honey together in a pan on the stove, over low heat. Let cool slightly before brushing onto cakes, and store in an air-tight container.

Cook’s Notes: Fun fact! Hartshorn, an early predecessor of baking soda, was literally made from reindeer antlers, or “hart’s horns”. It can still be purchased today, and gives baked goods an extra crispness.

Modern Lemon Cake Recipe

1-3/4 sticks (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
Grated zest of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
3 cups cake flour, sifted after measuring
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons whole milk
Lemon Glaze
Juice of 3 to 4 lemons (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons coarse or large-grain granulated sugar, for topping

Topping:

2 lemons, sliced thinly
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a couple of cupcake pans.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer and mix at medium speed until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the butter mixture and mix them at medium speed for 1 minute. Add the lemon zest.

Measure out the cake flour and sift into a separate bowl. Add the baking powder and salt and stir the ingredients just to blend them. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix them at low speed for about 1 minute or until the flour is completely incorporated. Add the lemon juice and 1 cup plus 1-1/2 tablespoons of milk. Mix them at low speed until they are completely incorporated. Add the rest of the ingredients, alternating between dry and wet, and mix at low speed for until it is completely incorporated.

Scrape the batter into the loaf pans, dividing it evenly and smoothing the surfaces with a spatula. Bake the cakes for ~15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.

While the cakes are baking, make the candied lemons: cook the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until the mixture comes to a simmer. Add in the sliced lemons and continue to simmer until the lemons are semi-translucent. Fish out the lemons, and reserve the sugar mixture (which now tastes like lemons!). Arrange the lemon slices on top of your mini cakes, and for an added kick, let the cakes sit in the warm sugar mixture to soak up some of the juice.

Enjoy!