A Seed Cake

This recipe originates from Mary Hookes, a woman active in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, between approximately 1675 and 1725. During this period in England, seed cakes were popular for their richly yeasted, spiced nature—commonly enjoyed at festive occasions or family gatherings, especially in rural households. Seed cakes often included caraway or other aromatic seeds, believed to aid digestion. The use of 'biskett comfitts' refers to pieces of candied biscuit, while 'cumfitts' were sweetmeats—typically seeds or nuts encrusted with a sugar shell. The inclusion of ale yeast points to the typical household brewing practices of the time, as both bread and beer fermentation depended on the same resource.

Back then, the recipe would have been made by hand in large wooden bowls for mixing the dough, with ingredients measured by weight or household vessels (pints, pounds). The 'drying' of flour would have been done in a wood-fired oven or in the residual heat from baking bread. Dough was kneaded by hand and proved beside the hearth, under linen cloths. The finished cake was typically baked in a cast iron or earthenware baking pan, set in a brick oven—often heated with wood or coal, the heat judged by experience rather than thermometers.