Traditionally made on the eve of All Souls' Day, which falls on the 2nd of November, these easy soul cakes are quick to make, super simple, and delicious with a cup of tea!
Soul cakes are round spiced thick biscuits, stuffed with raisins or currants.
Typically, mixed spice is used to flavour the biscuits, but in this version, I've used a combination of mixed spice and allspice, as I find it gives the best flavour.
👩🍳 Love a biscuit with your cup of tea? Try my easy oatmeal cinnamon cookies too!
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What was the purpose of soul cakes?
Soul cakes (and spiced ale!) were used to pay beggars (soulers as they were known), and children, who knocked door to door on All Souls' Eve, offering to say prayers for the family's departed. Every cake eaten represented one soul saved from Purgatory.
During the Middle Ages, soul cakes were also given to the costumed entertainers known as mummers, who made their rounds on Halloween. This practice is widely regarded as the origin of what we know today as 'trick or treating'.
✔️ Why you'll love this recipe!
Here's why these are the best soul cakes:
- Quick and easy to make biscuit.
- Mildly spiced and fruity - kids and adults love them!
- A traditional British recipe to celebrate All Souls' Eve.
- Perfect with a cup of tea or glass of milk.
- Freezer Friendly.
🛒 Ingredients
- Caster Sugar - golden caster sugar, or ordinary white caster sugar. Substitute for granulated sugar if that's all you have.
- Butter - unsalted and softened.
- Eggs - only the yolks are needed for this recipe, but you can freeze the egg whites for use at a later date....or make a meringue!
- Plain Flour - plain white flour.
- Mixed Spice
- Allspice
- Milk - just enough to bring the dough together. I used 2 tablespoons of full-fat milk.
🔪 How to make soul cakes - step by step
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
- Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. I do this by hand but feel free to use an electric mixer if you prefer.
- Beat in the egg yolks.
- Stir in the flour, mixed spice, allspice, and raisins.
- Add just enough milk to bring the dough together by hand. Add 1 tablespoon at a time so you don't accidentally add too much in one go. You want the dough to come together easily with your hands but not be too soft or sticky.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to the thickness of 2 £1 coins and use a 5cm fluted cookie cutter to stamp out the rounds. Carefully place the biscuits on lined baking trays (you'll need 2 large ones) and mark a cross on each with a knife.
- Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
💭 Top tips
- Make sure all of the ingredients are at room temperature before starting the recipe.
- Use a palette knife or fish slice to transfer the uncooked soul cakes to the baking trays.
- Make sure you liberally flour your work surface and rolling pin, before rolling the dough out. This will prevent the dough from sticking.
🍴 Serving suggestions
Enjoy these traditional British soul cakes with a cup of tea or glass of milk. They are also great for after-school snacks and to pop in lunchboxes!
Why not make a batch to hand out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween, along with my Halloween bark?
For such a simple bake these little 'cakes' (which are more like biscuits if I'm honest!), are really rather moreish!
📖 Variations
- If you can't find allspice, just add more mixed spice instead.
- Use currants instead of raisins, or a mixture of both.
- Add the zest of 1 orange for extra flavour.
- Dust the cooled cakes with icing sugar if you are serving these for Afternoon Tea.
- Make a double batch and freeze half for another day.
🥡 Storage
Store: The soul cakes will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container or biscuit tin.
Freeze: Any uncooked dough can be frozen for future use. The baked cakes can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
❓Frequently asked questions
Soul cakes are sweet round thick biscuits (despite being called cakes), flavoured with mixed spice, and added raisins or currants.
The action, practice, or ritual of going door to door asking for donations of food (soul cakes) and drink (spiced ale), traditionally on the eve of All Souls' Day.
Mixed spice, also called pudding spice, is a British blend of sweet spices, similar to the pumpkin pie spice used in the US. Cinnamon is the dominant flavour, but it also includes other spices such as nutmeg and allspice, and sometimes cloves and ground ginger. It is often used in baking.
😋Related recipes
More biscuit and cookie recipes to try!
- Easy Lemon Biscuits
- Empire Biscuits
- Gypsy Creams
- Easy Halloween Sprinkle Cookies
- Chocolate Biscoff Cookies
- Golden Syrup & Oat Cookies
Tried this recipe? Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating in the comments!
Recipe
Easy Soul Cakes
Ingredients
- 175 g Butter softened
- 175 g Golden Caster Sugar
- 3 Egg Yolks from large eggs
- 420 g Plain Flour
- 1½ teaspoon Mixed Spice
- ¼ teaspoon Allspice
- 2 tablespoon Milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160 fan/ Gas 4/ 350F) and line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. I do this by hand but feel free to use an electric mixer if you prefer.
- Beat in the egg yolks.
- Stir in the flour, mixed spice, allspice and raisins.
- Add just enough milk to bring the dough together by hand. Add 1 tablespoon at a time so you don't accidentally add too much in one go. You want the dough to come together easily with your hands but not be too soft or sticky.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to the thickness of 2 £1 coins and use a 5cm fluted cookie cutter to stamp out the rounds. Carefully place the biscuits on the lined baking trays and mark a cross on each with a knife.
- Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
Notes
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before beginning the recipe.
- Use a palette knife or fish slice to transfer the uncooked biscuits to the baking trays.
- Make sure you liberally flour your work surface and rolling pin, before rolling the dough out.
- If you can't find allspice, just add more mixed spice instead.
- Use currants instead of raisins, or a mixture of both.
- Add the zest of 1 orange for extra flavour.
- Dust the cooled cakes with icing sugar if you are serving them for Afternoon Tea.
- Make a double batch and freeze half for another day.
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Claudia Lamascolo
Cant wait to get into the kitchen and make these delicious cookies its perfect fall flavors also!
Colleen
I've never heard of soul cakes, so I learned something new here. The history is so interesting and these look delicious!
Matt @ Plating Pixels
Yum! Perfect for fall season as well as my morning coffee.
Marlynn
These were easy to make and so tasty! Loved learning the history of them, too.
Heather
These soul cakes were fascinating to learn about! Thank you for all of the great info and wonderful baking tips 😀