Elizabeth Raffald

Elizabeth Raffald, née Whitaker (1733–1781), was an English cookery writer and entrepreneur, born at Doncaster in Yorkshire. After fifteen years in service she became housekeeper at Arley Hall, Cheshire, then married the head gardener, John Raffald, in 1763 and settled in Manchester, where she ran a servants' register office, a cookery school and a confectionery business.

In 1769 she published The Experienced English Housekeeper, with the earliest recognisable recipe for a modern wedding cake, and in 1772 issued Manchester's first trade directory. She died suddenly in 1781.