Drawing inspiration from Cornflower, I jotted down the names of a few cakes from South Riding to try. There is Queen's cake, tea cake and currant loaf so far. Since there is a Royal wedding just a flip of the calendar away I wondered what Queen's cake was all about.
Lo and behold, when I did some research the information came from a website featuring none other than Mrs Rundell and her book, A New System of Domestic Cookery. This re-issue by Persephone just happens to be on my shelf! During the Regency era these cakes would have been turned out of their cup and as you can imagine were the beginning of what we now call a cupcake.
The best bit is that they're described as being 'not really a substantial cake' which sounds like an invitation to enjoy more than one. So unless something else tempts me along the way as I'm just three-quarters the way through South Riding, I will be giving this recipe a try. Let's hope I can make Mrs Rundell proud. If I screw things up horribly there is always the hot buttered toast that also gets a mention.