Golden oat and currant soul cakes with scored crosses beside a candlelit lantern and antique souling illustration

Life in Bianca’s Kitchen · Allhallowtide

Soul Cakes for Allhallowtide

A historically inspired recipe from Life in Bianca’s Kitchen

Small cakes, grain, warming spices, dried fruit, and the distinctive cross were the starting points for this recipe.

I wanted to bring those clues into my modern kitchen with simple ingredients and a little work by hand.

These oat-and-currant soul cakes are my own historically inspired interpretation—a small autumn bake to make with care and share.

From an Old Allhallowtide Tradition

Before Halloween became a night of costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating, Allhallowtide was a season associated with remembrance and older customs of hospitality.

Among those customs was souling. In some communities, visitors went from house to house receiving small cakes or other offerings, sometimes in exchange for prayers for the dead.

The ingredients and methods varied across places and periods. There was no single universal soul cake recipe.

This version is my own modern interpretation, inspired by the old tradition and made with oats, currants, butter, and warming spices.

View Recipe

The Recipe

Oat & Currant Soul Cakes

A historically inspired Allhallowtide bake

Oven: 375°F / 190°C Bake: 12–16 minutes Shape: 2½–3-inch rounds Thickness: ¼ inch / 6 mm

Ingredients

1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour, plus a little extra for rolling
½ cup (45 g) rolled oats
1½ teaspoons mixed spice, using the blend below
An additional pinch of ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
⅓ cup (67 g) granulated sugar
½ cup (70 g) dried currants
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1–2 tablespoons milk, as needed

Mixed Spice for This Batch

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

Method

Preheat the oven to 375°F / 190°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. Combine the Dry Ingredients

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, rolled oats, mixed spice, additional pinch of nutmeg, and salt.

2. Rub in the Butter

Add the cold, cubed butter. Using your fingertips, rub it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Work lightly, keeping the butter as cool as possible. This is one place where I deliberately use my hands rather than the food processor.

3. Add the Sugar and Currants

Stir in the granulated sugar and whole dried currants, distributing the fruit evenly through the crumb mixture.

4. Add the Wet Ingredients

In a small bowl or jug, lightly beat the egg yolks with the apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of the milk.

Add to the dry mixture and stir gently with a fork until the dough begins to clump together.

If it remains too dry to hold when gently pressed, add the remaining milk a little at a time, using only as much as needed.

5. Bring the Dough Together

Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured surface. Gently press it together, kneading only enough to form a cohesive dough. Avoid working it extensively.

6. Roll, Cut, and Mark the Cross

Roll the dough to approximately ¼ inch / 6 mm thick. Cut into rounds 2½–3 inches across, gently gathering and rerolling the scraps as needed.

Using a small knife, score a shallow cross into the top of each round without cutting all the way through.

7. Bake

Arrange the cakes on the prepared baking sheet with a little space between them.

Bake for approximately 12–16 minutes, checking from 12 minutes onward, until the edges are lightly golden and the tops look set.

8. Cool and Document

Leave the cakes on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

From the Kitchen

Making Our Soul Cakes

After centuries of Halloween history, we finally brought our research into the kitchen.

Inspired by the old tradition of souling, these little cakes bring together oats, warm spices, butter, currants, and a simple homemade dough.

They are our modern interpretation, rather than a claim to one original medieval recipe.

Here is how our soul cakes came together, from the mixing bowl to the cooling rack.

Mixing flour, oats, and spices for soul cakes — Step One Flour, oats, and warming spices begin our soul cake dough.

Rubbing butter into the dry soul cake ingredients — Step Two Butter is worked into the dry ingredients.

Adding currants to the soul cake mixture — Step Three A scattering of currants brings little pockets of sweetness.

Adding beaten egg to the soul cake dough — Step Four Beaten egg is added to bring the mixture together.

Bringing the soul cake mixture together into dough — Step Five The ingredients become a soft, workable dough.

Cutting round soul cakes and marking crosses on top — Step Six The dough is rolled, cut into rounds, and marked with crosses.

Freshly baked soul cakes on a parchment-lined baking tray — Step Seven The little cakes emerge from the oven, gently golden.

Finished soul cakes cooling on a wire rack — Step Eight Finished soul cakes, cooling and ready to share.

After all our wandering through Halloween history, it seems only fitting that we should end with something warm from the oven.

The Inner Kitchen

A Small Cake with a Long Memory

What I love about making something like soul cakes is the way an old custom can find a place in an ordinary modern kitchen.

We may not know precisely how every household made its cakes centuries ago, but we can still appreciate the gesture behind them: preparing something simple and sharing it with others.

Whether served with a pot of tea on a cool October afternoon or made as part of an Allhallowtide gathering, these little cakes offer a thoughtful way to remember an older seasonal tradition.

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From an Old Allhallowtide Tradition