Ironcakes

Ironcakes are dense, skillet-fried dwarf flatcakes made from a mix of stoneground flours, fermented root milk, and forgefat. Served hot off the griddle or wrapped in waxcloth for long tunnel journeys, they are equal parts nourishment, nostalgia, and weapon-grade carbohydrate.

A properly made Ironcake is crisp on the outside, chewy and savory inside, and leaves a distinct smoky crust on whatever it was cooked in. Miners swear by them, warriors carry them in ration belts, and kids eat them with smokebloom butter and ash-sugar pebbles for breakfast.

“Hard enough to stop a dagger, soft enough to remember home.”
— Dwarven proverb, often muttered over morning coals

Manufacturing process

Instructions

  1. Mix Dry Ingredients
    In a large stone bowl, combine tunnelgrain flour, embermeal, black salt, bloompepper, and fermentroot.
  2. Add Wet Ingredients
    Make a well in the center. Add soured rootmilk, egg, and melted forgefat. Mix until thick and shaggy. Let sit for 10–15 minutes — the batter should be heavy but scoopable.
  3. Heat the Pan
    Heat a cast-iron pan or forgeplate until smoking faintly. Grease with a bit of forgefat.
  4. Cook the Ironcakes
    Drop batter in rough discs (about ½ cup each). Flatten slightly with the back of a spatula or hand-forged ladle.
    Cook 3–4 minutes per side, until dark golden, crisp-edged, and firm. Don’t flip too early — the bottom should almost crackle.
  5. Serve
    Serve immediately with cave cheese, cracked ember eggs, or stoneberry jam. For field use, wrap in oiled cloth and stack in packs — they’ll keep for up to a week underground, longer if sealed in ashfat.
“If it bounces, it’s undercooked. If it dents your anvil, you’ve done well.”
— Gord Rammson

Significance

Cultural Notes

  • Name Origin: Called “Ironcakes” because they’re cooked on iron, last forever, and have saved more dwarves than armor.
  • Hearth Oath: In some clans, newlyweds cook Ironcakes together to prove they can “endure heat and stay stuck.”
  • Superstition: If one side burns but the other doesn’t brown, a family ancestor is angry — usually solved by offering the first cake to the hearthfire.

Item type
Consumable, Food / Drink
Raw materials & Components

Ingredients (Makes ~6 cakes)

  • 2 cups stoneground tunnelgrain flour (or coarse whole wheat flour)
  • ½ cup cracked embermeal (roasted root flour or cornmeal)
  • 1 tsp black salt
  • ½ tsp bloompepper flakes (optional for heat)
  • 1 tsp fermentroot powder (or baking soda)
  • 1 cup soured rootmilk (or buttermilk or kefir)
  • 1 egg (or 2 tbsp stonefruit mash as a binder)
  • 2 tbsp forgefat (or beef drippings/lard), melted
  • Extra forgefat for frying

Variants

  • Sweet Miner’s Cakes: Add a spoon of ash-sugar, a handful of dried rootfruit, and brush with honey or mushroom syrup.
  • Battle Cakes: Mix in shredded cave-hog, dried onion flakes, and extra salt. Meant to be eaten cold in the field.
  • Festival Ironcakes: Stuff with molten pickle mix or glowcap filling, fold like a dumpling, and seal the edges with a crimp.



Cover image: by Appy Pie

Comments

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Jul 3, 2025 16:39 by CoolG

I am loving your food articles! You've gotten a follow from me :D

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Jul 3, 2025 16:59

Thank you! I am loving making them!