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Shakespeare & Beyond

A recipe for 1610 rose cakes

Francine Segan“That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” But would these cookies taste as sweet without the candied rose petals on top?

Francine Segan, a food historian with a taste for the Renaissance, adapted a 1610 handwritten recipe to create these rose cakes. She is the author of six cookbooks, including the Opera Lover’s Cookbook, which was nominated for a James Beard award. The recipe below is excerpted from Shakespeare’s Kitchen (2003).

As Segan explains, the original recipe appears in the 1610 recipe book of Sarah Longe, which you can find in the Folger collection. Handwritten books like this one are being transcribed online as part of Shakespeare’s World, a collaboration between the Folger, Zooniverse.org at Oxford University, and the Oxford English Dictionary.

Comments

Thank you so much for including the original recipe! The two recipes are not even similar except in that they both contain a form of rose seasoning. I believe I will try the original, since I do not own the equipment for the derived one.

Lucy Kemnitzer — April 12, 2017

It’s “by any other name” rather than “by any other word,” right? Fantastic recipe!

WD — April 12, 2017

How can I volunteer to help with this project?

Rebecca Suerdieck — April 12, 2017

Nice and lovely cake

roda sadia — April 14, 2017

Lovely cake

roda sadia — April 14, 2017

I just made these “cakes”. They are just like a sugar cookies with a hint of rose. They are simply delicious. Thanks for sharing!

Karen Grenier — April 15, 2017