Recipes

Roses

Before vanilla became the dominant flavoring in cakes, cookies, and
other confections, rosewater (made from rose petals steeped in water)
was the common flavoring. Here's a cake recipe fit for royalty,
transcribed into modern English, from "The Queen's Closet Opened," an
eighteenth century cookbook:

                         "To make a cake with rose water,
            the way of the Royal Princess, the Lady Elizabeth,
                        daughter to King Charles the First"

 

"Take half a peck of flour, half a pint of rose water, a pint of ale yeast, and a pint of cream. Add to it a pound and a half of butter, six egg yolks, four pounds of currants, one half pound of sugar, five tablespoons grated , and a little salt. Beat it very well
and let it stand half an hour by the fire. Then beat it again and make it up [into a baking pan] and let it stand an hour and a half in the oven. Let not your oven be too hot."