For this short holiday episode Sarah teaches us how to bake seedcake and the Agony Uncles dispense some advice for social occasions..

Happy New Year everyone! May all your wishes come true ;)

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The Agony Uncle column is written by @mrsbillycranston, read by @notjustanoxymoron​.

Sarah’s seedcake recipe:

Mix a quarter of a peck of flour with half a pound of sugar, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, and a little ginger. Melt three quarters of a pound of butter with half a pint of milk; when just warm, put to it a quarter of a pint of yeast, and work it up to a good dough. Add seeds or currants, let it stand before the fire a few minutes before it goes to the oven, and bake it an hour and a half.
(a peck = 32 cups)

My conversion to normal human amounts, which is half quantities to the recipe above:

• 600g flour
• 225g sugar
• 1 tsp allspice
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 170g butter
• 280ml milk
• 25g yeast
• Seeds and currants of your choice. However many you want depending on how seedy you want it

Mix up the dry ingredients: Flour, Sugar, Allspice and Ginger, along with as many seeds as you want.
Melt the butter, add the milk to this, heat until ‘hand hot’ (pretty warm, but you can still comfortably dip your finger in and leave it there), then stir in the yeast.
Add this to the dry ingredients and work up to a good dough

Leave to stand for a few minutes in a warm place before baking.
Bake it an hour and a quarter at 180C.

From The Cook and Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary