Soul Cake

Today I decided I wanted to bake something so while the teeny monster had her fruit snack, I had a browse through a recipe book my much loved and missed Nana bought for me.

I came across a recipe for a Soul Cake. The name caught my eye and I had all the ingredients so I decided to make them. As I was baking I started thinking about the name Soul Cake. Were these cakes for the soul? Mine or someone else's? And weren't they mentioned in the Discworld books? 

A little research later and it's not soul cakes but Soul Cake Tuesday and the Soul Cake Duck that are mentioned in the Discworld and he lays chocolate eggs so not quite what I was thinking of.

As I rolled out the biscuity cakey dough I had some leftovers, as you do, so I rolled them into little circles and added them to the baking tray. While I was doing that I thought about whose souls those little baby soul cakes would be for. So now the entire baking experience had become deeply thoughtful and a little bit moving.

It turns out souling was a popular tradition for poor people and children and involved going door-to-door begging for alms and soul cakes - a spicy cake that represented a soul in Purgatory. In exchange for a cake, the eater promised to pray for a soul. Eating the cake freed the soul so the more cakes you ate, the more good you were doing. I always knew that cake was good for the soul.

And there's a song! And you can listen to it sung by Sting!

So there you have it. Cake saves souls and you can help save mine by buying me tea and cake. 

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.