queen cake

Noun

queen cake (plural queen cakes)

1. (dated) A soft, muffin-sized, often heart-shaped cake, particularly popular in the 18th century, containing currants and flavoured with mace and sometimes lemons or oranges, which may be topped with chocolate or shredded coconut.
   • To make Queens Cakes. Take a Pound of dry'd Flovver, a Pound of refin'd Sugar ſifted, and a Pound of Currans vvaſh'd, pick'd, and rubb'd clean, and a Pound of Butter vvaſh'd very vvell, and rub it into the Flovver and Sugar, vvith a little beaten Mace, and a little Orange-Flovver VVater; beat ten...1723, R[obert] Smith, “Of Pastes, Pies, Pasties, Puddings, Tansies, Cakes, Jellies, &c.”, in Court Cookery or, The Compleat English Cook. […], part II, London: […] T[homas] Wotton, […], →OCLC, page 41
   • Hal, who was waſteful even in his good-nature, threw a whole queen-cake to the dog, who ſwallowed it for a ſingle mouthful. […] [H]e ate and ate, as he walked along, till at laſt he ſtopped, and ſaid, "This bun taſtes ſo bad after the queen-cakes, I can't bear it!"1800, Maria Edgeworth, “The Waste Not, Want Not; or, Two Strings to Your Bow.”, in The Parent’s Assistant, or Stories for Children. […], 3rd edition, volume V, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], by...

   Synonyms:

   heart cake