Richmond Maids of Honour

Apparently these small rich cheesecakes were invented at Queen Elizabeth’s palace at Richmond, to tempt the queen’s capricious appetite: the story goes that her maids of honour liked them so much and ate so many that the cakes received their name.

The original recipe passed to a shop in Richmond, which for many years had the sole right to make them: they could still be bought there until about twenty years ago when the shop was pulled down. The following recipe comes from a fifteent