The Easter period is inextricably connected with certain foods – eggs, roast lamb and hot cross buns. But not many people in Britain today will enjoy a pax cake.
These little treats, which seem to have originated in Herefordshire, were once handed out by churches after the service on Palm Sunday, the day which marks Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusaleum.
More like biscuits than cakes (though confusingly, some accounts also refer to them as buns), they were generally stamped with the image of a lamb and a flag – the symbol of the Jesus, the “Lamb of God – and were meant to symbolise peace and goodwill. (The word “pax”, in Latin, means peace).
INGREDIENTS
170g icing sugar
60g ground almonds
1tsp orange flower water
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 tsp gum tragacanth – available in cake decorating shops – it makes the paste easier to handle, but can be omitted.
30g egg white
METHOD
Put all of the ingredients into a stand mixer and mix to combine.
Scrape down the bowl a few times, to make sure the paste is thoroughly mixed.
Add a little more icing sugar to make the paste firm (and therefore easier to handle)..
Mix 1tbs cornflour and 2tbs icing sugar together and use to help with rolling out.
Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas Mark 3.
Tip the paste onto a surface dusted with the cornflour mixture.
Knead until the dough is smooth and roll out. Fold as if you were making puff pastry, 3 or 4 times.
Roll out to about 3-4mm. Cut out the biscuits using a circular cutter of your desired size.
Lay the paste on parchment, then bake for 5-6 minutes until puffed and risen and just starting to turn brown.