“He could still recall the sounds of the three bells, the way that Noom’s deep peals set his very bones to shuddering, the proud strong voice of Narrah, sweet Nyel’s silvery laughter. The taste of wintercake filled his mouth again, rich with ginger and pine nuts and bits of cherry…” -A Feast for Crows
Modern Wintercakes
Elizabethan Wintercakes
Our thoughts:
No wonder Areo Hotah remembered these wintercakes fondly. Biting into one is like tasting a memory- the memory of a childhood characterized by roaring fires in stone keeps, the smell of leather, and warm smiles from bearded men. Eating one of these cakes is like finding something you lost years ago and had forgotten how much you loved; it is like coming home.
Needless to say, we loved both of these recipes. In the modern cake, the spice of the ginger combined with the tang of the cherries is reminiscent of an English fruitcake, but is more similar in texture to the interior of a moist, high quality scone. The Elizabethan cakes are denser and heavier, like English biscuits. The overall taste is one of pleasant, homey shortbread, but when you get a bite with cherry or ginger, the flavor shifts from familiar into foreign and fantastic. Both cakes can be served any time of day, and are better at room temperature than hot. They are delicious with tea, coffee, or hot cider.
Bottom line: Have friends over for hot drinks. Sit in big leather chairs. Talk about beautiful things. Take up the mandolin. Consider the merits of index based mutual funds. Whatever you do, make these cakes.
Both recipes are available in the Cookbook.
I will be trying both of these recipes come mid-week! Tell me, ladies, where are you finding double cream in the States?
Hi Toni, we’ve been lucky to find that our local Whole Foods stocks double cream. As a raging Anglophile, I spot these things like a pro… However, we substituted heavy cream in this recipe.
My closest Whole Foods is 60 miles away, but it will be worth the trip. I should have known. :) Up until now, Trader Joe’s heavy cream has been the closest thing I can find. Thanks for the tip!
Excellent website! I may have to try some of these excellent recipes :) Thanks
Awesome! Thank you guys so much for posting these recipes.
Just jumped on over after reading about your blog on GRRM’s site. Kudos to you for your efforts. Love the food photography and reviews! Winter cake looks really good. Do you have any plans to comment on the food as it appears in the HBO series of “Game of Thrones”?
We may make some comments if we see HBO’s representation of food that we’ve made, or food that is specifically mentioned in the books. Our primary focus, however, will be to reproduce the food that Martin mentions. And what we think should go into the next book. :)
What a wonderful idea for a blog. And well executed too. Keep up the good work!
These recipes are amazing, I want to make every single one. The foodie porn aspect of GGRM’s books are one of my favorite parts and you’ve brought them to life amazingly.
Keep up the good work!
Amazing idea! You guys could make some great recipe books….
A Game of Scones
A Clash of Creams
A Storm of Gourds
A Dance with Doughnuts
“Dinner is coming.”
You made me laugh out loud with these, after a lengthy sojourn for a parking space in Boston. Thanks, and we’ll, ah, take them under advisement… :)
lovely!! drooool drooool !
I really enjoy what you guys are doing here. I hope one day you would do some cooking for one of the fan events(although I can understand how the numbers might be an issue).
I noticed you put something earlier that you guys would follow the recipes as close as you could but some things might be cost prohibitive. I know it you may be wary of it, but if you put up a donate button where people could chip in to help you buy some of the more costly ingredients, I know personally I would send something your way.
Hope your cooking and eating go well, I think you might own the single happiest cat in the US with all the morsels he gets to taste.
Thanks so much for your encouraging comments! Your perfectly timed suggestion was just the nudge we needed to finally add that donation button to the blog. We may also seriously consider bringing some food to events, but as you say, there are some concerns we would have to sort out first. If we decide to do something like that, you can be sure we will post it to the blog!
Looks tasty! I’ll be sure to try these soon or later
I have never been so excited to discover a blog in my life! I was over at GRRM’s ‘notablog’ and he had a link to you guys. Amazing, simply wonderful blog. I have never been able to read any of Ice and Fire without eating something at the same time because of all the food descriptions! You have filled a void in my soul I didn’t know was there. And now to the kitchen! Where I will cook up some dishes to tide me over until “Dance” hits the shelves in July.
A Truley Greatful,
Jessica
My family has a tradition of having a Medieval Costume Party to celebrate St. Crispin’s Day – Henry the 2nds great speech – and these are my son’s favorite books. I will be making some of the recipes next Saturday.
I just made this! I did it in a loaf pan, and ended up making an excellent spice bread. Thanks so much!
I can not catch one thing – why exactly is this COFFEE cake? Because I don’t see any coffee in the list of ingredients or in the recipe. I’m not a english native speaker, so maybe I did not understand something… I’m gonna to do this cake for christmas, so I want to be sure I made it properly (well, not entirely ‘coz I cannot put my hands on pine nuts;) ).
Holiday Greetings!
In the US, we refer to a cake like this as “coffee cake” because it is usually served with coffee at meetings, church functions, etc. It’s sort of the American version of British “Tea Biscuits”- neither has coffee or tea as an actual ingredient, but pairs well with them. As for pine nuts, I think some hazelnuts or even cooked chestnuts would be a great substitute. Hope you love it, and let us know how it turns out! :)
thanks for explaining. should first look it up in wikipedia, then ask questions:) and thank You for tips about nuts.
Do you have any advice for making this recipe gluten-free? I normally wouldn’t bother, but one of our Christmas guests can’t tolerate gluten.
Hey Meg,
Our friends over at Outlander Kitchen recommend this recipe as a starter: http://bit.ly/oY6jaX
Hope that helps! :)
I’ve made this fantastic cakes like 6 times since I got the book. Everyone loves them, and all of my friends always want me to cook these for them.
Thanks you for this wonderful recipe.
Greetings from Chile.
This cake is amazing! A friend is gluten-free, so I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 gluten-free flour. For the flavoring, I used dried cherries, golden raisins, and candied orange peel (instead of candied ginger) – what a revelation! Aside from the fact that no one could believe it was gluten free, it was just plain delicious.