To Make Banbury Cakes is a traditional Elizabethan recipe for a classic spiced yeasted buns with currants that are sandwiched in plain dough and oven baked. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Elizabethan version of: To Make Banbury Cakes.
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Original Recipe
To make a very good Banbury cake (from Gervase Markham The English Huswife, (London, 1615))
To make a very good Banbury Cake, take four pounds of Currants and wash and pick them very clean, and dry them in a cloth: then take three Eggs, and put away one yelk, and beat them and strain them with the Barm, putting thereto Cloves, Mace, Cinamon, and Nutmegs, then take a pint of Cream, and as much mornings Milk, and set it on the fire till the cold be taken awy; then take flowre, and put in good store of cold butter and sugar, then put in your eggs, barm and meal, and work them all together an hour or more; then save a part of the past, & the rest break in pieces, and work in your Currants, which done, mould your Cakes of what quantity you please, and then with that paste which hath not any Currants, cover it very thin, both underneath and aloft. And so bake it according to the bigness.
Modern Redaction
The 'Barm' called for in this recipe is the yeasty froth that lies on top of beer. Essentially what's called for is a rich, yeasted dough. As a result this recipe has been adapted slightly from the original to allow for the use of active, dried, yeast.
Combine the yeast, sugar and 100ml of the warm milk in a bowl. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes, or until frothing. Whisk in the egg and spices then set aside.
Sift the flour into a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips then add the yeast mix, the remaining milk and the cream. Work together until thoroughly combined (add more flour or milk as needed) then knead for about 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Cover the dough and set aside in a warm place for 40 minutes to raise.
After this time knock the dough back and reserve just over 1/5. Take the remaining dough and knead in the currants until evenly distributed.
Take small pieces of the dough and shape into square blocks about 3cm thick. Now take the reserved dough and roll out until quite thin. Use this to cover the top and bottom of the currant dough so you have a sandwich. Transfer to a greased baking tray then place in an oven pre-heated to 200°C (400°F/Gas Mark 6) and bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown, cooked through and springy to the touch.
