Take half a Peck of Flour, put into it a little salt, three Pints of Ale-Yest, have in readiness your Cream lukewarm, strain your Yest, and put into it six spoonfuls of Sack, put in Spice into your Flour, and make all these into a stiff Paste with the Cream, work it well and lay it by the fire to rise one hour, then work into your Paste two pounds and a quarter of fresh Butter; pull your Paste in pieces three times, then strew in a pound of Caraway Comfits, and make this Paste into five Cakes, lay them upon buttered Plates or double Papers, then strew Caraway Comfits on the top and double refined Sugar; one hour will bake them sufficiently.

Cakes with Almonds Old Elizabethan Dessert Recipe
The above Old dessert recipe for Cakes with Almonds is written in totally different way to today's recipe books.

• There were no lists of ingredients - these were included as part of the text
• Food and ingredient measurements were extremely basic - quantities were not often specified.
• Temperature control was difficult and therefore not specified.
• Cooking times were vague - and left to the cook to decide.
• It was assumed that the reader would already have some knowledge of cooking