She’s a Killer Queen/Gunpowder, gelatine/Dynamite with a laser beam/Guaranteed to blow your mind/Anytime

I spent a recent Saturday at the Waddington International Air Show. Now, I like to be prepared when it comes to kai, particularly as animal friendly options can be scarce at such events. This particular packed lunch I prepared not only fed us for lunch but also for dinner…and for supper. There was a lot of food.

Inside the picnic bag of delights that day were little pottles of the following deliciousness:

Pesto-Potato Salad (pictured top)
Pesto-Pasta Salad w/ Sun Dried Tomatoes (pictured right)
Mushroom & Walnut Pate (pictured bottom)
Creamy Avocado Potato Salad (pictured left)
Homemade White Bloomer
Hummus
Olives & Sun Dried Tomatoes
Bananas & Nectarines
Killer Queen Cakes

Now, Killer Queen Cakes (or just Queen Cakes as they are known to non-boganbuddhas) are one of my favouritest new discoveries. Partly because I have another use for my bun tin other than Mince Pies. However, mostly I love them because they are sweet in a dried-fruit-kinda-way instead of an excess-of-refined-sugars-kinda-way. They are what I consider to be a very ‘grown up’ kinda cake. Much like how Fruit Cake seems so much more ‘grown up’ than Chocolate Cake – that’s how I feel about these little buns.

According to this very interesting site, Queen Cakes are traditionally made of butter, sugar, flour, eggs and baked in a tin. The shape of the tin would vary but heart shaped was particularly popular. A 1724 recipe for Queen Cakes from the aforementioned website lists the ingredients as:

1lb of flour, 1lb refined sugar, 1lb currants, 1lb butter, bit of mace, some orange water and ten eggs, but half the whites

My recipe is based on a WWII era recipe from my Eating for Victory: Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations cookbook, which is a collection of reproduced Second World War leaflets. As it comes from a time of rationing it contained no eggs to start with and so was relatively easy to make animal-friendly. On this occasion I used un-refined castor sugar and agave syrup. However, I have made these with regular castor sugar and English golden syrup and they still came out choice. I also reduced the amount of baking powder (as the original 3 teaspoons seemed a lot), but you can use your judgement when making them.

Killer Queen Cakes
Makes 1 dozen cakes
Suggested Listening: Queen Killer Queen (Sheer Heart Attack)

2 1/2 oz margarine
2 oz unrefined castor sugar
1 T agave nectar
1/2 t vanilla essence
6 oz flour
2 t baking powder
Pinch salt
1/4 pint milk and water
1 1/2 oz currants

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C and grease the bun tin.
2. In a bowl, cream the margarine and sugar together until light, then add the syrup and essence and beat well again.
3. Sieve the flour and baking powder (if used) and salt into another bowl and then add it to the creamed mixture with the milk and water. If you chose, you can re-sieve the flour mixture from the second bowl into the creamed mixture bowl so that it gets a double dose of airy freedom.
4. Add the currants, mix well. The consistency should be light and airy.



5. Spoon the mixture evenly into greased bun tin.



6. Bake in the prepared oven for 20-25 minutes.
7. Leave to cool 5-10 minutes in the tin and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.