I had a very specific image of Sansa’s favorite treat in mind as I was reading Game of Thrones, so it took a couple of tries to get them right! I had a vision of small, almost bite-sized cakes on a platter, decorated prettily. I wanted them very dense, barely leavened, so I melted the butter and cooked them at a very low temperature. There are a million lemon cake recipes floating around, so I’ve tried what I imagined as regional variations. This one is inspired by Highgarden. I used rosewater in both the lemon curd and the lemon cakes; the Tyrell’s sigil is the Rose, which I thought was fitting as Marjorie was a decent ally for awhile to Sansa.
As a variation, I also made a Queen in the North version: Rosemary Lemon Cakes with rosemary and candied lemon.
Rosy Lemon Cakes
For the rosy lemon curd
Adapted from Ina Garten
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- zest of 3 lemons
- 4 eggs
- juice of 2 lemons
- 2 tbsp rose water
- 1/8 tsp salt
Cream the butter, then beat in the sugar and lemon zest. Add the eggs one by one, then the lemon juice, rosewater, and salt.
Pour into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until thickened (10 minutes or so, mine took longer). Remove from heat and cool completely. Can save in the fridge.
For the lemon cakes
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons rosewater
- pinch safflower for color (optional)
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (spoon very lightly into measuring cups to measure)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- powdered sugar, rosy lemon curd, and optional rose petals to decorate
Heat oven to 275°
Whisk together well butter and honey, then whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Whisk in lemon juice, rosewater, and crumbled safflower.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt, then stir into wet ingredients until just combined. Spoon into greased mini muffin cups, and bake for 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then overturn onto a plate to cool the rest of the way. Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar, dollop with lemon curd, and garnish with a few sprinkled rose petals.
This is kind of an amalgam of these:
Fine Cakes translated by Gode Cookery
Medieval Lemon Cakes by Inn at the Crossroads
Lemoncakes from Geeky Chef (this is my favorite presentation, I may try the ones above again with just little lemon slices in the muffin cups)
This dish was first posted for Fiction Kitchen Episode 1: GAME OF THRONES in which Carrie and Diana discuss characters, regions and cuisines of Westeros and Essos, salt rite, food styling, and blood and boobs.