Elizabeth Ist coat of arms

Violet Cakes Old Elizabethan Dessert Recipe

Queen Elizabeth Ist

"Queen Elizabeth Ist"

To make Violet Cakes

Take them clipped clean from the whites and their weight in fine Sugar, wet your Sugar in fair water, and boil it to a Candy height, then put in your Violets, and stir them well together, with a few drops of a Limon, then pour them upon a wet Pye-Plate, or on a slicked paper, and cut them in what form you please;

do not let them boil, for that will spoil the colour: Thus you may do with any Herb or Flour, or with any Orange or Limon Pill, and, if you like it, put in a little Musk or Ambergreece

Violet Cakes Old Elizabethan Dessert Recipe
The above Old dessert recipe for Violet Cakes 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

Elizabethan Era - Free Educational Resource. Author Referencing Information

The contents of www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

Alchin, L.K.
Elizabethan Era
e.g. Retrieved Aug 1 2016 from www.elizabethan-era.org.uk

The content of Elizabethan Era is free but solely for educational purposes. Reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.". We would respectfully direct our visitors to our Elizabethan Era Copyright page and Elizabethan Era Privacy Statement regarding the Terms of Use of this history site, both may be accessed from the links provided at the bottom of this page.

Old Elizabethan Recipes
Elizabethan Era Index

Privacy Statement

Cookie Policy

© 2017 Siteseen Ltd