Tansy Cakes with Peppermint Cream: A Medieval Snack

When I was eleven, I spent countless hours in front of the television with my sisters watching A Knight’s Tale. We could recite every line and anticipate every joke with stunning accuracy. Anyone who has seen this movie knows what I’m talking about when I say  “tansy cakes with peppermint cream”…it’s the dessert that Wat literally wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about, and it’s been a lifelong (okay, maybe not lifelong) dream of mine to find out what this medieval snack really tastes like. This dish brings together some loves of mine: peppermint, history and films, and it doesn’t hurt that it tastes great either.

The recipe I used to make these is rather vague but it does provide the basics. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

For the tansy cakes:

• 150g butter (I found this was A LOT of butter, so I’d recommend using less)
• 2 cups of bread crumbs (the recipe calls for brown, but I used plain and they still tasted great)
• 3 tbsp plain flour (I used white all purpose flour)
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (the nutmeg really adds the flavour to the cakes, so go ahead and add a pinch more if you like yours more flavourful)
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

For the peppermint cream:

• 1 cup cream (I used 35% whipping cream and the consistency of mine is quite runny)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• A few drops of peppermint flavouring (I originally put in about 4 drops but ended up adding more since I LOVE peppermint and wanted a stronger taste…feel free to use less depending on what you like)
• A few drops of green food colouring (stick to about 3 so the colour doesn’t go too dark green)

Directions:

Start with the peppermint cream to allow it time to cool. In a mixing bowl, whip the cream and sugar together. Add in the mint flavouring and food colouring as you go. The recipe I used said the consistency should be pretty solid, but mine came out rather runny, it still tastes great this way! Place the mix in the fridge while you make the tansy cakes.

With the tansy cakes, this is where the recipe got a little confusing for me. It says to “blend”  the breadcrumbs, flour, eggs and spices. I just combined them all in a larger mixing bowl -you can try to blend them in an actual blender, but then I can’t make any promises for how it’ll turn out. Shape the mixture into little flat rounds, and fry them in the melted butter.

Pour the chilled peppermint cream over your warm tansy cakes, serve, and enjoy! 😀

Ignore my two burnt cakes, I was silly and left them a little too long.

*The recipe made about 10 tansy cakes for me, but this will vary depending on how large you mould your rounds.

Next up, dilled veal balls with squash fritters!