Several parisioners have asked whether they could have the recipe to the Scripture Cake that Cheryl Kouba made for the Coffee after Mass last Sunday…..so here it is!

The recipe comes from Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book, Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions.  She states, “When the family has friends over for Sunday afternoon tea, one Victorian teatime favorite is Scripture cake, a delicious confection made only from ingredients mentioned in the Bible.  Victorian homemakers, who were expected to know their Bible as well as their cookbooks, had to decipher the mysterious ingredients…”

Ingredients:

1 cup Psalms 55:21

1 cup Jeremiah 6:20

3 Jeremiah 17:11

1 tablespoon I Samuel 14:25

½ cup Judges 4:19

2 ¼ cups Leviticus 6:15

1 tablespoon Amos 4:5

2 teaspoons II Chronicles 9:9

A pinch Leviticus 2:13

1½ cups I Samuel 30:12

1 cup Numbers 13:23

½ cup Numbers 17:8”

“…but Mrs. Sharp will help you out!”

Key:

1 cup (or 2 sticks) butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon honey

½ cup milk

2¼ cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons spice mixture:  1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg

A pinch of salt

1½ cups raisins

1 cup chopped figs

½ cup chopped almonds

Instructions:

“Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter and flour a loaf pan.

Many Victorian versions of Scripture cake end by advising cooks to blend together and follow King Solomon’s  advice for rearing a well-behaved child, found in Proverbs 23:14 – or, to translate, ‘beat well’.

In a large bowl, cream the butter (an electric beater works well) until light, beating in the sugar a tablespoon at a time until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.  Stir in honey and milk.  Sift together the dry ingredients:  flour, salt, baking powder, and spices.  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, blending until thoroughly mixed.  Stir in the raisins, figs, and almonds.

Turn mixture in baking pan.  Bake for 50 minutes.”

Enjoy!