A bookmarked page within the Provisioner's Notes, the recipe for Honey Cakes is adorned with floral patterns and small images of apiaries, accompanied by detailed drawings of spices in their natural form.
• Honey Cakes
Honey Cakes are a simple form of spiced quick bread that can be produced in either a conventional oven (using the standard cake tins) or upon a fire pit (using a thick-walled cast iron pot with lid to emulate the conditions of an oven). The following recipe is derived from an instructional provisioner's textbook that was transcribed lawfully and with consent from the proprietor of the original text. Adaptations were made as necessary.
Prepare fire for baking. Apply salted butter to the baking vessel liberally. • In a medium pot, combine water and clover honey with a series of spices: dried aromatic bark (sp. ground cinnamon), dried herbaceous root (sp. ground ginger), dried aromatic flower buds (sp. ground cloves), dried fragrant evergreen seed (sp. ground nutmeg), dried flower stigma and style (sp. saffron threads). Simmer over coals and stir until smooth. • In a bowl, combine buckwheat flour, refined white flour, and wholemeal flour (in a one to one to two ratio, respectively) with melted butter and leavening powder. Mix in spiced honey mixture until smooth. Pour completed batter into buttered baking vessel. • Bake until loaf is browned, and pierces cleanly with wooden skewer. Allow honey cake to cool before unmolding. Serve whole loaf as six single-serving partitions.
In the interest of specialty ingredients - Clover honey harvested not from apiaries but instead from the wild can add a degree of uniqueness to each honey cake. The variability in the taste of the honey is caused by the variations in the workings of the undomesticated bee, as well as the ever changing nature of the wild clovers found in the Trollshaws. The flavor of wild honey also instills a sense of nostalgia - a beckoning air towards Imladris - an inexplicable homeward wind that lifts the spirit, often irreproducible by the honey of domesticated bees - denied the rightful harmony with the wilds, bred to favor fortitude and consistency.
