Wakes Cakes

Wakes week was a festival celebrated in the autumn to cheer up people before the long dark winter nights drew in. At fairs there would be merry go rounds, hawkers and stalls selling ribbons, gingerbread and Wakes Cakes.

The recipe for wakes cakes (which are crisp and more like biscuits) differed from village to village, this is a general recipe from England from the 19th century.

Ingredients
12oz flour
8oz butter
6oz white sugar
1 beaten egg
½ teaspoon baking powder
3oz currants
1/2oz caraway seeds
grated rind of 1 lemon

Method
1 Grease baking trays well.
2 Beat together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy.
3 Add the beaten egg, a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
4 Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture.
5 Add the currants, caraway seeds and lemon rind.
6 Carefully bind together with the hands to make a stiff dough.
7 Roll the dough out on a floured board with a floured rolling pin.
8 Dip a 2½ cutter into flour.
9 Stamp out as many rounds as the dough will allow.
10 Sprinkle the rounds with sugar if required.
11 Transfer the dough onto the prepared baking trays.
12 Bake at 190 degrees centigrade/gas 5 for 10 – 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
13 Cool on the trays for a few minutes on a wire cooling rack.
14 Transfer onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Store in an air tight tin