Queen Cake — small currant butter cakes

i. Origin & history

Queen cakes appear in English cookery books from the early eighteenth century onwards, and by the middle of the century they were standard: Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery (1747) and many later collections give a recipe under that name. They were made from the same pound-cake proportions as larger cakes — equal weights of butter, sugar, eggs and flour — with currants added, and baked in small individual tins, which made them quick to bake and elegant to serve.

Who the 'queen' was is not recorded. The name may have been a compliment to Queen Anne, who reigned when the recipes first became common, or simply a fashionable label for something refined; similar 'royal' names were given to puddings, such as the later queen of puddings. Any precise story should be treated as a legend.

The heart shape is the most distinctive feature. Small heart-shaped tins, sold in sets, were used for queen cakes throughout the Georgian period, and the shape persists in some modern versions. Over the nineteenth century, as baking powder made cakes lighter and cheaper, queen cakes gradually merged with the plainer small sponges that became fairy cakes in Britain and cupcakes in America.

In the Iberian world, 'queen' and 'king' cakes belong to the Christmas season. Portugal's bolo-rei is a ring of sweet bread full of candied fruit, and the bolo-rainha is its queen: the same dough, but loaded with nuts and dried fruit and without the bright candied fruit. That is a yeasted festive bread rather than a small butter cake, but it is the version many Portuguese speakers mean by 'queen cake', and it is described under Variations below.

ii. How creaming makes a fine, rich crumb

Before baking powder, cakes like these were raised entirely by air beaten into the butter and eggs. The method still gives the best texture. When butter and sugar are beaten together, the sharp sugar crystals cut thousands of tiny air pockets into the fat; in the oven those pockets expand with steam and the gas from any leavening, and set into a fine, even crumb.

That is why the butter must be soft but not oily, and the creaming must go on for several minutes, until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Melted or warm butter cannot hold air, and the cakes come out dense and greasy.

The eggs are added gradually so that the emulsion of fat and water does not break. If it curdles, the trapped air escapes; a spoonful of flour with each egg stabilises it. This recipe adds a little baking powder as insurance, which gives a slightly lighter cake than the Georgian original without changing its character.

The currants are tossed in flour so they stay suspended in the batter rather than sinking. Because the cakes are small, the bake is short and hot, which sets the outside quickly and keeps the centres moist.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 175 g unsalted butter, softened
• 175 g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 175 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch of fine salt
• ¼ tsp ground mace or nutmeg
• 1 lemon, finely zested
• 1 tbsp rosewater or brandy (optional)
• 100 g currants
• 1 tbsp milk, if needed
• 2 tbsp caster sugar, for sprinkling

The equal weights of butter, sugar, eggs (three large eggs weigh about 175 g out of the shell) and flour are the historic pound-cake ratio. Currants are traditional, not raisins: they are smaller, so they distribute evenly through a small cake. Mace, the lacy outer covering of the nutmeg, was the favourite Georgian cake spice and gives a warmer, more delicate note than nutmeg; rosewater was the usual flavouring before vanilla became common. A sprinkle of caster sugar before baking gives the thin, crackled sugar crust that queen cakes were known for. Use a 12-hole muffin or bun tin, small heart-shaped tins, or paper cases.

iv. Method

1. Heat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F), 170 °C fan. Butter a 12-hole bun or muffin tin (or small heart tins) well, or line with paper cases. Toss the currants in 1 tbsp of the flour.
2. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 4–5 minutes, until pale, fluffy and noticeably increased in volume.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of flour with each, then beat in the lemon zest and rosewater or brandy.
4. Sift the remaining flour with the baking powder, salt and mace, and fold it in gently with a large metal spoon until just combined. The batter should drop easily from the spoon; if it is stiff, fold in the milk.
5. Fold in the floured currants. Divide the batter between the tins, filling each about two-thirds full, and sprinkle the tops with caster sugar.
6. Bake for 15–18 minutes, until risen, golden at the edges and springy when pressed, and a skewer comes out clean.
7. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool. Serve warm or cold.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Soften the butter properly. It should dent easily when pressed but not look greasy. Cold butter will not cream; melted butter cannot hold air.
• Have the eggs at room temperature. Cold eggs firm up the butter and make the batter curdle, which costs you lightness.
• Fold, do not beat, the flour. Over-mixing at this stage develops gluten and gives tough, peaked cakes with tunnels in the crumb.
• Plump dry currants. If they are hard, pour boiling water over them for 5 minutes and dry well; otherwise they draw moisture from the cake.
• Do not overfill. Two-thirds full gives a gently domed top. Fuller tins overflow and the cakes lose their shape, especially in heart tins.
• Use mace sparingly. A quarter teaspoon is enough for twelve cakes; too much tastes medicinal.

vi. Variations

The Portuguese bolo-rainha is a large ring of enriched yeast dough, flavoured with port and citrus and packed with walnuts, almonds, pine nuts and raisins, eaten from Christmas to Epiphany alongside the candied-fruit bolo-rei — the Portuguese cousin of the Spanish roscón de Reyes. Fairy cakes are the plain British descendant of queen cakes, with no fruit and a little icing. A lemon-glazed queen cake replaces the sugar crust with icing sugar mixed with lemon juice. Bake the same batter in a loaf tin for a queen pound cake, about 50 minutes at 170 °C. For other small British teatime bakes, try Eccles cakes, or for the French equivalent of a little butter cake, the financier.

vii. Serving & storage

Queen cakes were made for afternoon tea and that is still where they belong: plain, with a cup of tea, or split and buttered while warm. They also make a light dessert with poached fruit or a spoonful of syllabub, which would have been served alongside them in the eighteenth century.

They keep for up to 5 days in an airtight tin at room temperature; the currants keep them moist. Do not refrigerate them, which dries the crumb. They freeze very well for up to 3 months — freeze them as soon as they are cool, and thaw at room temperature for about an hour, or warm for 5 minutes in a low oven.

ix. More from British & Irish

• Rosca de Reyes — Three Kings ring bread
• Sugarloaf — Portuguese sugarloaf
• Rosca de Coco — coconut ring cake
• Eccles Cake — currant-filled flaky pastry
• Queen of Puddings — jam and meringue pudding
• Financier — small French almond cakes