Today, I went and played soccer in the Meadows, then came home and spent the rest of the day curled on the couch in a blanket, drinking hot chocolate and re-reading one of my favorite books, The Scorpio Races. The island scenes and wild weather described in the book perfectly matched the grey fall weather outside and made my couch seat seem even more snuggly. As I was reading, I realized I really wanted to know what a November Cake tastes like. A November Cake is a baked good unique to the island on which the book takes place and also, I thought, a purely fictional delicacy. Just to be sure they didn't exist in real life, I looked up 'November Cakes' online and found that, in fact, the author of the book wrote up a recipe for the cakes. Wonderful! So, of course, I just had to try them out.
Making them started out like making bread - make the dough and let it rise. I've never been very successful in getting dough to rise, but this time I was blown away. I got the biggest rise ever!
the before
the after
the dough
After the rise, the dough is rolled out and spread with melted butter infused with orange extract. I had no orange extract, so put bits of orange peel in instead... Then, once that's done, you roll the dough into a cylinder and put in cupcake tins to bake.
They are the most fluffy and delicious little cakes ever! So so good, and perfect for cold weather!
For instructions on how to make these, look here: http://www.fiction-food.com/2013/11/november-cakes-salted-butter-tea-from.html