Sunday, November 01, 2015

Soul Cake

Yesterday, whilst Paul was carving a pumpkin and making puree ready for a pumpkin pie, I made some soul cakes.

I was thinking about how times have changed over the last decades especially with the 'trick or treat' visitors but history has a habit of repeating itself and it seems that soul cakes were a forerunner of the requesting of treats at neighbouring doors.

Apparently the Soul Cakes or Souling Cakes were given out, not on All Hallows Eve (31st October) but on All Souls Day (2nd November) which follows All Saints Day on the 1st November.  Children and the poorer people of the town or village would go from door to door singing psalms and saying prayers for the dead.  Each cake eaten was said to represent a soul freed from Purgatory.  This custom dates from the pre-Reformation times of the Middle Ages, when bread was given out in return for prayers and psalms for those you have lost.

I had what lines I could remember of the song running though my head as I baked -
 A soul, a soul a soul cake,
please good missus, a soul cake,
an apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us merry....&etc

In fact these little morsels aren't really cakes but more the consistency of biscuits.  The ingredients are simply flour, sugar, eggs, wine vinegar, butter and spices.  I wonder how much these ingredients differ from the original recipe?

The recipe I used is one originating on the Cheshire/Welsh borders and I found it here

340gm of plain flour, 170gm each of sugar and butter, 1 beaten egg, 2tsp white wine vinegar and half a teaspoon each of nutmeg, cinnamon and mixed spice.

Set the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (I cooked on 180 degrees as our oven can sometimes burn when too hot)

Mix the flour, sugar and spice together. Slice and dice the butter and rub into the dry ingredients.  Then using a wooden spoon mix in the beaten egg and the wine vinegar.  It makes a stiff dough which should be rested in the fridge for about 20 minutes.  Roll out the dough and cut into rounds, marking the top with a cross cut.  Place on baking trays and cook for 15 - 20 minutes until light golden brown.  Mine were ready after 14 minutes.  I didn't have quite enough plain flour so I added a little bit of self raising to the mix to make the quantity right and I also added a bit more beaten egg (about one and a half) than suggested as the eggs I had, although labelled medium, seemed quite small.

Although the cakes look quite plain they are sweet and spicy and quite tasty.  They also, quite pleasingly, snap into four little pieces for eating purposes.

 

It would have been nice to give them out at the door but I'm sure they wouldn't have been appreciated so we had a bowl of mini chocolate bars at the ready.

 We had quite a few groups of small children with their parents waiting at the end of the drive and some older children too, all very good humoured and enjoying themselves, every bar went.  We had three girls dressed as clowns knock at the door, when asked why clowns they answered that they had read that some people find clowns quite scary, I can relate to that.  Another boy on his own said 'Trick or Treat' in quite a fed up, monosyllabic voice so Paul said that isn't very scary, lets try again and he shut the door and opened it again, the boy said 'Trick or Treat' in a far more animated way and took his bar.  I had a boy yell out 'Oh, I love Snickers' and then as they left he ran down the drive shouting 'Mum, they have Snickers at that house'.  It seemed like great fun but it is such a far cry from the days of the Soul Cake.

34 comments:

  1. I've never tried soul cakes - eating or making. We've never bothered with Halloween in my family - I've never been trick or treating (to be honest, I think it's a little bit weird!) and we've never had a trick or treater knock on our door - definitely not at Home where we were more isolated but not even since we moved to edge of town, which surprised me the first year we lived here! It sounds like you had some very happy visitors!

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    1. It's only since we lived here that we have had 'trick or treaters' and we've been here about 19 years, before that I don't remember Halloween being quite so popular. When we were children we used to carve swedes from the farmers field into lanterns but that was always for Bonfire night and the night before which was known as mischevious night:)

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  2. I don't think I've ever heard of All Soul's Day and the soul cake. I think I'll have to make some. We had a few more trick or treaters than usual.

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    1. The little rhyme we knew as children I think but never knew the associations with the Christian calender although again I had heard about All Saint's Day and etc but not the traditions surrounding it:)

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  3. I would have appreciated a soul cake had I come knocking at your door Rosie! We didn't have any trick or treats come to the door last night. I had read earlier that the police had put in an exclusion zone for groups of people around the town where I live. Thank goodness it didn't turn out like the riots that took place in Lambeth last night! Your soul cake recipe reminds me of Easter biscuits. They are the same kind of mixture with the addition of currents or caraway seeds. I've managed to make a pumpkin pie today so I will enjoy that later when you are savouring your soul cakes! x

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    1. Yes, the riots weren't good, at least your area was safe. We've always had little ones with mums or dads and the older ones have been respectful. Glad you managed to make a pumpkin pie:)

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  4. I like the idea of soul cakes and have never come across them. We don't get trick or treaters where we live, and I am not much into Halloween as a festival, Sanheim or All souls day is more my thing, in theory if not in practice.

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    1. I don't mind Halloween as such but the 'trick and treat' bit of it can be a bit disconcerting, Once all the sweets had gone we had to switch off the lights but luckily no one else called:)

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  5. We never get trick or treaters at our house. I have no idea why. I'm glad you had a good day.

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    1. It is great to see all the costumes but I wouldn't miss it really. This is the only house we've lived in that I remember having 'trick or treaters' to the door - we never get any carol singers near Christmas now which is something that always used to happen a few years ago. How times change:)

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  6. I like the idea of soul cakes and their history but you can't change the tastes of today's generation of kids. Well done you for sticking with tradition. They look delicious.

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    1. I think the taste of the soul cakes is more for adults and at least the little bars were in wrappers for food hygiene purposes. It is the first time I'd made the little cakes and they were delicious:)

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  7. Trick-or-treating seems to be dying out around here and most children go to fancy dress parties instead. Decorating the front door with pumpkins, skeletons and cobwebs is also becoming increasingly popular. It seems more sensible than encouraging children to go knocking on strangers' doors.

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    1. Yes, one of our neighbour's children was off to a witch halloween party instead of 'trick or treating.' There is a village nearby where they decorate almost the whole street with cobwebs, pumpkins and etc and it looks really festive:)

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  8. I hadn't heard of soul cakes before, they look quite tasty and symbolic. Glad you had a good Halloween, we didn't have any spooky visitors this year. I suppose they've all grown up.😊

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    1. Each year we seem to have more! Lots of young families in this area as well as us oldies. The soul cakes have a lovely delicate taste, we still have a few left:)

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  9. Soul cakes are new to me. And I had no idea Halloween was celebrated there! Seems like there are fewer trick-or-treaters every year here and parties are becoming more popular.

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    1. It seems it is going that way too here, although 'trick or treat' is a fairly new phenomenon over here, we certainly didn't celebrate it when I was a child.:)

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  10. Never even knew soul cakes were such a thing, let alone the history behind them.

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    1. I had heard of soul cakes from the rhyme but had never really known much about the traditions behind them until I wrote the post:)

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  11. What a lovely post, I haven't heard of a Soul Cake before. I love the link between history and food -- I try to always make a simmnel cake, Christmas cake and Easter biscuits, a Yule log (for its links to the pagan traditions) and of course, pancakes. But I will have to add Soul Cakes to my repertoire! Delighted to have found your blog.

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    1. Hello and welcome, glad you found me. I have made simnel cakes before but not for a while, I haven't made Easter biscuits so must look into those. I always try to make a christmas cake too. Like you I love the traditions behind these foods:)

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  12. I would have reached for a soul cake rather than the candy (well, maybe not as a child). It looks good and I like my food to come with a bit of history.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. I'm alwasy fascinated with the history and traditions of food:)

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  13. I do like these old traditions. The giving out of soul cakes and the reason behind the custom is new to me and very interesting. I also like the verse and it reminds me of similar folk rhymes and the custom of going from door-to-door requesting a small treat in return for a goodwill song during other special days in the old country calendar.

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    1. I'm sure there is something similar closer to Christmas too, with going from door to door to celebrate. I love boths its seasonal and community aspects:)

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  14. I haven't heard of Soul Cakes before but I do rather like the idea. We had dozens of little skeletons, ghosts and other creatures knocking on the door (and we didn't even have a proper pumpkin, they were sold out). Some seemed a bit jaded, others were brilliant. One little boy sang a Gaelic song about a cat and mouse, which was lovely. Guising (this is what we call trick or treating here) has become more popular in our neighbourhood, a neighbourhood with a great community spirit.

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    1. Guising sounds a lot more interesting than 'trick or treat' - how lovely to have a song sung to you, it all sounds delightful:)

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  15. These look perfectly scrumptious!
    and perfect for this rainy, foggy day.
    Must try them.
    xo

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    1. How lovely to see you here Pamela and Edward, I hope you do try the soul cakes, their sweet, spicy flavour is just right for this time of year:)

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  16. I have to admit I have never heard of soul cakes, but I like the sound of them. Sweet and Spicy sounds ideal ! xxx

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    1. They have a lovely delicate flavour and the recipe made loads - enought to share:)

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  17. Hi Rosie,

    Such an interesting social history. I've never heard of soul cakes either. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    Marie x

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    1. Thanks, Marie - I may try a similar recipe for some Christmas biscuits and cut them in a star shape perhaps:)

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