This year I baked my Soul Cakes early to be ready for Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. They were traditionally made to be handed out on these special days.
“The cakes, often simply referred to as souls, are given out to soulers who go from door to door, singing and saying prayers for the souls of the givers and their friends.”
The musician Sting has a version of the traditional song “Soul Cake” on his album “If on a Winter’s Night”. Here are some lyrics.
“A soul cake, a soul cake,
Please, good missus, a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry,
A soul cake, a soul cake,
Please, good missus, a soul cake.
One for Peter, two for Paul,
And three for Him that made us all.”
The little cakes are actually more like biscuits, and are delicious as they are full of spice and sultanas. They have a cross marked on the top too.
This batch of Soul Cakes are a little rough and ready! But taste great because of the spices.
Ingredients
100 g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
2 free-range egg yolks
250g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 -1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon saffron (or more if necessary)
Zest of an orange
2 tbs milk
100g sultanas
Method
Put the softened butter, caster sugar and egg yolks in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until everything is combined and the mixture is creamy.
Sift the flour and spices, including the saffron. Put the mixture with the orange zest into the processor, blitzing for a couple of seconds only, then blitz in the milk a little at a time until the dough just comes together. Don’t over-mix! If the dough isn’t yellow enough, add a pinch more of saffron.
Stir in the sultanas by hand.
Form the dough into a rough ball, them roll into a sausage shape, with a rough diameter of about 50cm or 2 inches, or whatever size you want your soul cakes to be.
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C fan forced or 180 degrees C non fan forced.
Wrap in grease proof paper and chill in the fridge for a couple of hours or until you want to bake the cakes.
Bake for 15 minutes or until firm and just brown. Cool on a wire rack.
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Take the sausage from the fridge and cut into thick wedges. Place each wedge on the baking tray. At this stage you should cut a cross on the top of each soul cake.
Great eaten warm straight from the oven. The soul cakes can be frozen too, but eat on the traditional days if possible!
The Quirk and the Cool 