Maids of honour tart (also known as maids of honour cake[1] and Richmond maids of honour) is a traditional English baked tart consisting of a puff pastry shell filled with cheese curds. A variation is to add jamoralmonds and nutmeg.[2] Traditionally the tart was a puff pastry filled with sweetened milk curds.[3]
The tart is said to date back to King Henry VIII[4][5] when he witnessed some of the Queen's Maids of honour eating some cakes and demanded to taste one.[6] He found them delicious and named them after the maids. Some even claim that the maid who made the tarts was imprisoned and had to produce them solely for the King.[7] However, there is another theory that they were named after Anne Boleyn, a maid of honour at the time, who made the cakes for Henry VIII.[8][1]
A tea room in Kew, south-west London, "The Original Maids of Honour", dates back to the 18th century and was set up specifically to sell these tarts.[8][1]
^ abc"Our History". The Original Maids of Honour. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
^Hassall, Maurice. A Cook's Tour of England. Power Publishing. p. 243. ISBN9963673414.
^"Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast". Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast. Season 1. Episode 3. 24 January 2014. Event occurs at 21:12. Channel 4. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
^Darra Goldstein, ed. (2015). The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press. p. 809. ISBN978-0199313396.
