Cakes for Kalends

The insomnia has my brain fizzing slightly, and I've now come up with the notion of making small cakes for each of my daily household gods to be offered on the Kalends. Too late for this month, perhaps, but hey, there you go. Planning to make them small, so I can make up a batch of each that will last six months. Keep the rest in the freezer. Most of these should keep well enough. The laver cakes may have to be cooked fresh, but I bet the mush would freeze fine.

It will be a kind of start on the devotional cookbooks I've been contemplating. Here are some notes towards it:

cakes for:

hekate - honey cake with almonds
dionysos - GG Lil’s applesauce cake with dried figs, soaked in spiced red wine
hestia- dense spice cake
hermes- maybe some sort of merengue? what flavors does he like?
athena - something hearty and not too sweet, nuts and a touch of honey
artemis - nut and seed cake
apollo - orange spice cake, with ginger, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, saffron, mace, frankincense, like in that one book
okeanos and tethys - laver cakes; boil nori and wakame together overnight until gloopy mash. mix in barley, roll in oats, fry

Base recipe with notes:

•	hekate honeycake
•	http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/honey-cake-recipe
•	
•	1 cup sliced almonds
•	1 1/4 cups King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour, white or traditional — sub barley
•	3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
•	1/2 teaspoon baking soda — maybe delete
•	1/2 teaspoon salt
•	3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
•	1 cup honey
•	4 large eggs
•	1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt
•	add cinnamon, clove, allspice, mace, saffron
•	
•	try whipping egg whites to give lift to replace baking powder
•	steep saffron in milk before/while making yogurt
•	

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of the sliced almonds in the bottom of the pan, reserving 1/4 cup for the batter.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the butter, honey, and eggs. Stir in the reserved flour mixture, then the sour cream or yogurt and reserved almonds.
3. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to be sure everything is evenly moistened, then mix for one minute more.
4. Gently pour the batter over the almonds in the prepared pan.
5. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until the edge of the cake pulls back from the edge of the pan. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, invert the cake onto a serving plate and allow it to cool before serving.
6. Decorate the top with powdered sugar if desired. Yield: 1 cake, 16 servings.

dionysos figs and wine cake
Lil's Applesauce Cake

1c butter
2c granulated sugar overwritten with: 1lb lt brown sugar
1t each: Cinnamon, cloves, allspice
1/2t salt
4c flour
1c raisins
3/4c dates (chopped)
1c nuts
3 eggs
2c applesauce w/ 1/2t soda

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Combine spices w/flour. Add altnerately with applesauce. Add nuts, dates and raisins. Bake in tube pan, 325F 1.5 hours (test after 1hr).

Another of Granny Lil's. Sometimes this cake comes out dry, and then Gran moistens it with apple slices and white wine.

replace dried fruits with dried figs, chopped; what nuts?

allow to dry out overnight, then pour hot spiced wine over it, to soak

All very rough, insomnia-driven. Anybody have questions, comments, suggestion? Speak up!