On June 24, 1509, the young Henry Tudor was crowned King of England, just a few days shy of his 18th birthday. During his reign, the country underwent many changes. Perhaps most notably, we broke away from the Catholic church and Henry established the Church of England. Yet many best remember Henry VIII for his rather illustrious love life. As schoolchildren, we all learned the rhyme “Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived” as a means of keeping track of his wives’ fates. Jane Seymour is often called his one true love, probably because she birthed a son. But Henry apparently loved his Maids of Honour. Not the young women in his court. The cakes.
The legend behind these little cheesecakes takes on several forms depending on who is telling it but some details remain the same. The king was visiting his queen – many say Anne Boleyn, some Catherine Howard. Some say it happened at Hampton Court, others at Richmond Palace. Regardless, the location is irrelevant. Anyway, he happened to try a little cake that the queen and her ladies-in-waiting were enjoying. And he was hooked.
Reputedly, he demanded that they be made for him. Additional claims are that he decreed they be made only for him (possible – this is the hot-tempered Henry we’re talking about), and that he had the maid imprisoned so she could only make them for him (unlikely).
The cake itself is fairly light, made of curd cheese and lemon in a puff pastry shell. I have even seen a couple of historians claim that earlier versions were made with mashed potato. To this, I say a very English Poppycock! Sir Francis Drake first introduced the potato at court in 1584… long after the death of Henry VIII. Mashed potato may have been used in later versions, but it was most definitely not in the original Maids of Honour.
The recipe was apparently then lost for several centuries before being unearthed again in Richmond, near Kew Gardens. Since 1850, Newens has claimed to be the home of the original Maids of Honour. We will never know how like the original this truly is. Cooking methods have certainly changed since Tudor times, but we can say that this is most likely the closest to what Henry VIII might have enjoyed.
Maids of Honour
Some modern recipes include a thin layer of raspberry or apricot jam. I have not included this, thinking it was likely a later addition.
1 sheet prepared puff pastry (Or 375g homemade puff pastry)
50 g unsalted butter, room temperature
50g sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tbs plain flour
50g ground almonds
1/2 tsp nutmeg
the grated zest of 2 lemons
100g curd cheese (If you cannot find curd cheese, 1/3 fat cream cheese works quite well)
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
Roll the pastry out to about half a cm thickness and cut 12 rounds, each about 9cm wide. Use the pastry rounds to line a muffin or cupcake pan.
Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg, flour, almonds, nutmeg, and lemon zest and beat together until the mixture is fluffy. Stir in the curd cheese and mix.
Spoon the cheese mixture into the pastry cases and bake for about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
These would be perfect to take on your picnic.
