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Today I’m welcoming Terri Karsten to Salty Inspirations to share a recipe inspired by her new release, A Necessary Death. Historical mysteries often bring fascinating details from the past to life, and this recipe offers a glimpse into a unique funeral tradition that appears in the book.
Dead Cakes – Historical Recipe
In preparation for the parson’s funeral, Penelope makes dead cakes. This is based on one of the most intriguing customs I found during my research for the book. Dead cakes were a Dutch, German, or English custom in which cakes or cookies were marked with the initials of the deceased and either sent out by rider as a funeral invitation or sent home with the mourners. Such cakes might be eaten as part of the funeral feast or kept, sometimes for years as a memento of the dead person. Several sources suggest that dead cakes were a sort of caraway flavored shortbread.
One recipe for dead cakes comes from Alice Morse Earle’s Colonial Days in Old New York. She quotes a recipe from Mrs. Ferris as: “Fourteen pounds of flour, six pounds of sugar, five pounds of butter, one quart of water, two teaspoonfuls of pearl ash, two teaspoonfuls of salt, one ounce of caraway seeds. Cut in thick dishes, four inches in diameter” (306). Earle doesn’t give a date or reference for Mrs. Ferris’s recipe, but the use of pearl ash suggests an 18th century origin. Earle also asserts that these dead cakes were advertised in 18th century newspapers (citing an ad for burial cakes in 1748 from a Philadelphia newspaper), but were also often baked at home. (306-307)
A second caraway cookie recipe is called apees, apparently named for Ann Page, who sold the cookies in Philadelphia around the time of the Revolutionary War. She marked her cookies with ‘AP’ so customers could tell which were hers. This recipe comes from Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes and Sweetmeats, published in Boston in 1828.
The two recipes have some significant differences. Mrs. Ferris’ recipe calls for pearl ash, though so little that it made no difference in either taste or rise. Her recipe also has considerably fewer caraway seeds (3 Tablespoons as opposed to 1 teaspoon). The apees recipe calls for wine instead of water, and adds nutmeg, cinnamon and mace.
The recommended size of the finished cake also differed. Mrs. Ferris suggested cutting cakes four inches in diameter, while the Lady of Philadelphia calls for cutting circles with a tumbler. It seems to me the four inch cookie is a better memento, but the smaller cookie is more practical for serving at a funeral meal. The initials of the deceased are also more easily seen with fewer caraway seeds in the dough.
Taking all these variations into consideration, I ended up with the following recipe for modern use:
Dead Cakes
· 3 ⅓ c. flour
· 1 c. sugar
· ¼ t. Salt
· 1 T. caraway seed
· ½ lb. butter
· ½ c. water or wine
Mix the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter as for pie crust (until it resembles coarse meal). Add the water or wine and press into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface about ¼ inch. Cut the cakes to the desired size and shape. Cut the initial you want into the cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 -25 minutes (depending on the thickness.) Cool and enjoy.
In spite of the somber name and original purpose, these sweet treats are surprisingly good.
Sources
Earle, Alice Morse. Colonial Days in Old New York. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896. Digitized by Google.
Lady of Philadelphia. Seventy-five receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats. Boston: Munroe and Francis, 1828. 56.
Levitt, Alice. Funerary Feasts From Around the World. Vermont’s Independent Voice: 7 Days. October 29, 2014.
Rogak, Lisa. Death Warmed Over. Berkeley: 10 Speed Press, 2004
For more about cooking with pearl ash, see my blog post: https://historicalcookery.substack.com/p/on-cooking-with-pearl-ash
A Necessary Death by Terri KarstenAbout A Necessary Death
A Necessary Death
Historical Cozy Mystery
Setting – A tavern in Colonial Pennsylvania (1764)
Publisher : Wagonbridge Publishing
Publication date : September 15, 2025
Print length : 272 pages
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1953444202
ISBN-13 : 978-1953444202
Digital
ISBN-13 : 978-1953444219
ASIN : B0FLDWVCJW
With Penelope Corbitt in the kitchen, the tavern will never be the same.
Penelope Corbitt can turn a lump of meat and a bit of flour into a mouth-watering pie or make a tasty meal of cabbage and vinegar. But all her skill can’t save her family in the spring of 1763, when she loses everything to pay off her missing husband’s debts. Walking a tightrope between the freedom of poverty and the confines of propriety, she must accept her stingy brother-in-law’s reluctant charity to keep her family fed and her children close. The miserable journey north from Philadelphia is interrupted when the coach crashes in the mud. Penelope and her children are stranded at a run-down tavern. Penelope doesn’t think things can get worse.
Then she finds a dead man.
About Terri Karsten
Living in the shadow of the Mississippi River bluffs, Terri Karsten has been a writer and educator for many years. She grew up in sunny San Jose, California, playing amid the cherry orchards that soon gave way to houses. In her search for education and adventure, she lived in Iowa and Wisconsin, Mexico and France, before settling into a hundred-year-old house in Winona, Minnesota. She spends most days in her tiny office, surrounded by books, papers, and good memories.
With more ideas than time, Terri writes a bit of everything, ranging from historical fiction novels to picture book folktales to dozens of short stories and articles in magazines, encyclopedias, and newspapers.
When she is not writing, Terri loves poring over old cookbooks and recreating dishes from long ago, especially medieval, Renaissance, and colonial foods. Always ready for the next adventure, she enjoys camping, hiking, and traveling. Her latest goal is to visit National Parks in every state. Only 13 states to go!
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Thank you to Terri Karsten for stopping by Salty Inspirations today and sharing this fascinating historical recipe. Be sure to add A Necessary Death to your TBR, and while you’re here, feel free to browse more author features, book spotlights, interviews, and cozy mystery content around the blog.
As always, thanks for stopping by for some Salty Inspirations! —Michelle❤️
