king wilfred's honey cakes                       

 

The recipe for Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon came from a friend who works at Renaissance Festivals. Fair warning: The honey cakes are extremely messy, drippy, gooey, sticky (and yummy). One more note: For those
of us unfamiliar with the term, a "very cool oven" means an oven set at 225 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Click here for printable recipe

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yields 24 cakes

 

Cakes

4 cups sifted flour

1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons superfine sugar

2 tablespoons honey

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

pinch of salt

 

Topping

1 egg white

1 cup heather honey

3 tablespoons ground almonds

 

Cakes

Rub butter into the flour. Beat egg yolks and mix with milk. Combine sugar and honey in small saucepan and heat over low flame, stirring until well mixed. Stir in baking powder.

 

Add sugar/honey mixture to the flour/butter mixture, alternating with the egg yolks/milk mixture. Mix everything together very well; add salt and mix again. Gently roll onto a floured board to approximately 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 24 rounds.

 

Place rounds on greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a rack to cool. When cool, add topping.

 

Topping

Lightly beat egg white. Combine honey with ground almonds. Paint the tops of the cakes with the egg white, then spread the honey/almond mixture over the tops of the cakes. Bake in a very cool oven for no longer than 5 minutes to set. Eat either hot or cold and let your imagination soar.

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from AUNT DIMITY SLAYS THE DRAGON by Nancy Atherton by permission of Penguin Books, a member of Viking Inc. Copyright 2009 by Nancy T. Atherton. All rights reserved. This excerpt, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.