How are we all? Gotten used to the days being short and the afternoons barely existing? Not that I mind, I love this part of the year where it’s just a little too cold to be Autumn anymore but it’s not quite winter yet.
Okay, okay, some of that might be because there’s also Halloween and my birthday (I was 28 by the way).
Did you have a good Halloween? Fed up with the sound of bells faintly jingling in the distance ominously? Me too, that’s why I made Soul Cakes!
We all know Halloween stands for ‘All Hallows’ Eve’, right? If not, go google it, enlighten yourself. November 1st is ‘All Hallows’ Day’, or All Saints’ – Hallows being an old word for saints – and November 2nd is ‘All Souls Day’. Traditionally (i.e. the UK before the reformation, puritans, and the civil war) all three days were celebrated as a way to commemorate the dead and the saints. I would assume in typical Christian re-branding fashion the part involving saints was tacked on to a preexisting pagan holiday.
Halloween took all the attention for itself and we were cheated out of cake. Delicious, delicious cake.
These little buggers are called Soul Cakes, and they are the tasty lovechild of scones and hot-cross buns.
On All Souls they would be handed out, possibly creating the basis for Trick-Or-Treating, and for every cake eaten a soul would escape purgatory.
This is the recipe I used but tweaked it a little, using half plain flour and half self-raising flour for slightly fluffier cakes. If you can’t find currants I assume dried raisins will do, and I have absolutely no idea how to translate this in to cups. Buy some scales.
Something to tie us over until Bonfire Night and compulsory birthday cake, and blockade early November from being swallowed up by Christmas promotions.
Speaking of baking, did you know that if you save the parts of the pumpkin that are removed while carving* you can puree them and make a good looking pumpkin bread? Just leave out the water from the recipe, though maybe keep a closer eye on the baking time than I did…
Review of The Lady in the Cellar coming next week(ish), before I share a new NetGalley title with you.
*don’t use the body of the pumpkin after a candle’s been in it, fumes get in to the flesh and that is not good to eat
The Curvy Bookcase 