What's the recipe for a Dickensian twelfth-cake? Dickens lived from 1812 to 1870, and he published A Christmas Carol in 1843, when he was 31. The cake he was imagining when he wrote the book might have been a cake remembered from his boyhood; however, that recipe from the early 1800s would have differed from the immense and expensive cakes that Dickens and his family enjoyed through the 1840s and '50s, when his children were growing up.
One of the things that would have changed was the leavening agent. In the early 19th century, yeast derived from the beer-brewing process would have been added to make the cake rise. The earliest known written source specifically named as a twelfth-cake recipe is an 1803 version by English cook John Mollard in his The Art of Cookery. It uses ¾ of a cup of yeast to leaven seven pounds of flour.
Later in the 19th-century, beaten eggs were used as the leavening agent, and still later, as standardized ingredients became commonly available, baking powder was substituted. One might guess that by the time A Christmas Carol appeared, a professional baker might have used eggs, whereas a home cook using an old family recipe might still have been using yeast.
What is common among twelfth-cake recipes is that they are always very large fruitcakes containing currants and citrus peel that require long baking at a low temperature to cook right through. They are designed to be decorated elaborately with royal glaze, almond paste and/or fondant, with lots of piped and sculpted sugar embellishments. In fact, they exactly resemble our traditional wedding cakes, to which they are a close relation.
Some antique cookbooks, like The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (1769), offer no recipe for a twelfth-cake, but discuss a bride cake or wedding cake; their authors probably expected readers to use one recipe for both occasions. The Jane Austen Centre offers a modern interpretation of the Raffald bride cake recipe to fit a 10-inch springform pan – decorated as a twelfth-cake and pictured above.
The popular doctor and cookbook author William Kitchiner (1775–1827) explains in his Apicius Redivivus, or the Cook's Oracle that "the only difference" between a twelfth-cake and a bride cake was, for a bride cake, "the addition of one pound of Raisins, stoned and mixed with the other fruit." He also mentions that, as with our modern wedding cake, "a good Twelfth Cake, not baked too much, and kept in a cool dry place, will retain its moisture and eat well, if Twelve months old."
So here's a selection of twelfth-cake recipes. When reading old cookbooks, it's useful to know that a gill is equal to ½ cup, 4 fluid ounces, 8 tablespoons or 118 mL. The "hoops" referred to were what was once used used in place of a modern cake pan; they would be lined with paper, filled with batter and set into the oven.
From John Mollard, The Art of Cookery
Both the site Austen Only and food historian Ivan Day's Historic Food site document a recent experiment in baking Mollard's cake, with wonderful photos like the one above of their crown-topped, cochineal-coloured cake and the antique sugar-molds used to create the decoration. The recipe is as follows:
Take seven pounds of flour, make a cavity in the centre, set a sponge with a gill and a half of yeast and a little warm milk; then put round it one pound of fresh butter broke into small lumps, one pound and a quarter of sifted sugar, four pounds and a half of currants washed and picked, half an ounce of sifted cinnamon, a quarter of an ounce of pounded cloves, mace, and nutmeg mixed, sliced candied orange or lemon peel and citron. When the sponge is risen, mix all the ingredients together with a little warm milk; let the hoops be well papered and buttered, then fill them with the mixture and bake them, and when nearly cold ice them over with sugar prepared for that purpose as per receipt; or they may be plain.
This makes an absolutely enormous cake; a modern cook would likely want to quarter it. Also, since yeast has become standardized, I would guess that you could get away with perhaps two 8-gram packages in a reduced version of this cake. To "set a sponge" is to allow the yeast to start to grow in warm water or milk mixed with the flour.
From William Kitchiner, The Cook's Oracle (numerous editions from the 1820s onwards)
Two pounds of sifted Flour, two pounds of sifted Loaf Sugar, two pounds of Butter, eighteen eggs, four pounds of Currants, one half pound of Almonds, blanched and chopped, one half pound Citron, one pound of Candied Orange and Lemon Peel, cut into thin slices, a large Nutmeg grated, half an ounce ground Allspice: ground Cinnamon, Mace, Ginger, and Corianders, a quarter of an ounce of each, and a gill of Brandy. Put the Butter into a stewpan, in a warm place, and work it into a smooth cream with the hand, and mix it with the Sugar and Spice in a pan (or on your paste board) for some time ; then break in the Eggs by degrees, and beat it at least twenty minutes; stir in the Brandy, and then the Flour, and work it a little—add the Fruit, Sweetmeats, and Almonds, and mix all together lightly, have ready a hoop cased with paper, on a baking plate, put in the mixture, smooth it on the top with your hand dipped in milk—put the plate on another, with sawdust between, to prevent the bottom from colouring too much, bake it in a slow oven four hours or more, and when nearly cold, ice it... This mixture would make a handsome cake, full twelve or fourteen inches over.
He observes that "In making Butter Cakes ... too much attention cannot be paid to have the Butter well creamed, for should it be made too warm, it would cause the mixture to be the same, and when put to bake, the Fruit, Sweetmeats, &c., would in that event fall to the bottom." He adds that all ingredients should be warmed to room temperature, lest they should "cause the cake to be heavy".
His icing recipe, what we would call a royal glaze, is as follows: Take one pound of double refined Sugar, pounded and sifted through a lawn sieve; put into a pan quite free from grease, break in the whites of six eggs, and as much powder Blue as will lie on a sixpence; beat it well ... for ten minutes, then squeeze in the juice of a Lemon, and beat it till it becomes thick and transparent. Set the cake you intend to Ice, in an oven or warm place, five minutes, then spread over the top and sides with the mixture as smooth as possible; if for a Wedding Cake only, plain ice it; if for a Twelfth Cake, ornament it with Gum Paste, or fancy articles of any description. (I'm not sure exactly what "powder blue" is, but in modern recipes some cream of tartar is added to this type of royal glaze.)
Martha Washington's Twelfth-cake
Martha Washington (wife of US President George Washington) left a collection of recipes, including a "Great Cake" that could have been served on Twelfth Night, which was also her wedding anniversary. The Mount Vernon historic site has released the original version of the recipe, along with an appropriate icing recipe, also from Mrs. Washington's cookbooks, and modern adaptations originally published in Louise Conway Belden's The Festive Tradition: Table Decoration and Desserts in America, 1650-1900 (W.W. Norton & Company, 1983). The modern recipe calls for only ten eggs, and will fit a 10-inch springform pan. Leela of the blog She Simmers also posts about testing a different adaptation by Jeff Smith.
Other Antique and Modern Adaptations of Twelfth-cake Recipes
One of the things that would have changed was the leavening agent. In the early 19th century, yeast derived from the beer-brewing process would have been added to make the cake rise. The earliest known written source specifically named as a twelfth-cake recipe is an 1803 version by English cook John Mollard in his The Art of Cookery. It uses ¾ of a cup of yeast to leaven seven pounds of flour.
Later in the 19th-century, beaten eggs were used as the leavening agent, and still later, as standardized ingredients became commonly available, baking powder was substituted. One might guess that by the time A Christmas Carol appeared, a professional baker might have used eggs, whereas a home cook using an old family recipe might still have been using yeast.
What is common among twelfth-cake recipes is that they are always very large fruitcakes containing currants and citrus peel that require long baking at a low temperature to cook right through. They are designed to be decorated elaborately with royal glaze, almond paste and/or fondant, with lots of piped and sculpted sugar embellishments. In fact, they exactly resemble our traditional wedding cakes, to which they are a close relation.
Some antique cookbooks, like The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (1769), offer no recipe for a twelfth-cake, but discuss a bride cake or wedding cake; their authors probably expected readers to use one recipe for both occasions. The Jane Austen Centre offers a modern interpretation of the Raffald bride cake recipe to fit a 10-inch springform pan – decorated as a twelfth-cake and pictured above.
The popular doctor and cookbook author William Kitchiner (1775–1827) explains in his Apicius Redivivus, or the Cook's Oracle that "the only difference" between a twelfth-cake and a bride cake was, for a bride cake, "the addition of one pound of Raisins, stoned and mixed with the other fruit." He also mentions that, as with our modern wedding cake, "a good Twelfth Cake, not baked too much, and kept in a cool dry place, will retain its moisture and eat well, if Twelve months old."
So here's a selection of twelfth-cake recipes. When reading old cookbooks, it's useful to know that a gill is equal to ½ cup, 4 fluid ounces, 8 tablespoons or 118 mL. The "hoops" referred to were what was once used used in place of a modern cake pan; they would be lined with paper, filled with batter and set into the oven.
From John Mollard, The Art of Cookery
Both the site Austen Only and food historian Ivan Day's Historic Food site document a recent experiment in baking Mollard's cake, with wonderful photos like the one above of their crown-topped, cochineal-coloured cake and the antique sugar-molds used to create the decoration. The recipe is as follows:
Take seven pounds of flour, make a cavity in the centre, set a sponge with a gill and a half of yeast and a little warm milk; then put round it one pound of fresh butter broke into small lumps, one pound and a quarter of sifted sugar, four pounds and a half of currants washed and picked, half an ounce of sifted cinnamon, a quarter of an ounce of pounded cloves, mace, and nutmeg mixed, sliced candied orange or lemon peel and citron. When the sponge is risen, mix all the ingredients together with a little warm milk; let the hoops be well papered and buttered, then fill them with the mixture and bake them, and when nearly cold ice them over with sugar prepared for that purpose as per receipt; or they may be plain.
This makes an absolutely enormous cake; a modern cook would likely want to quarter it. Also, since yeast has become standardized, I would guess that you could get away with perhaps two 8-gram packages in a reduced version of this cake. To "set a sponge" is to allow the yeast to start to grow in warm water or milk mixed with the flour.
From William Kitchiner, The Cook's Oracle (numerous editions from the 1820s onwards)
Two pounds of sifted Flour, two pounds of sifted Loaf Sugar, two pounds of Butter, eighteen eggs, four pounds of Currants, one half pound of Almonds, blanched and chopped, one half pound Citron, one pound of Candied Orange and Lemon Peel, cut into thin slices, a large Nutmeg grated, half an ounce ground Allspice: ground Cinnamon, Mace, Ginger, and Corianders, a quarter of an ounce of each, and a gill of Brandy. Put the Butter into a stewpan, in a warm place, and work it into a smooth cream with the hand, and mix it with the Sugar and Spice in a pan (or on your paste board) for some time ; then break in the Eggs by degrees, and beat it at least twenty minutes; stir in the Brandy, and then the Flour, and work it a little—add the Fruit, Sweetmeats, and Almonds, and mix all together lightly, have ready a hoop cased with paper, on a baking plate, put in the mixture, smooth it on the top with your hand dipped in milk—put the plate on another, with sawdust between, to prevent the bottom from colouring too much, bake it in a slow oven four hours or more, and when nearly cold, ice it... This mixture would make a handsome cake, full twelve or fourteen inches over.
He observes that "In making Butter Cakes ... too much attention cannot be paid to have the Butter well creamed, for should it be made too warm, it would cause the mixture to be the same, and when put to bake, the Fruit, Sweetmeats, &c., would in that event fall to the bottom." He adds that all ingredients should be warmed to room temperature, lest they should "cause the cake to be heavy".
His icing recipe, what we would call a royal glaze, is as follows: Take one pound of double refined Sugar, pounded and sifted through a lawn sieve; put into a pan quite free from grease, break in the whites of six eggs, and as much powder Blue as will lie on a sixpence; beat it well ... for ten minutes, then squeeze in the juice of a Lemon, and beat it till it becomes thick and transparent. Set the cake you intend to Ice, in an oven or warm place, five minutes, then spread over the top and sides with the mixture as smooth as possible; if for a Wedding Cake only, plain ice it; if for a Twelfth Cake, ornament it with Gum Paste, or fancy articles of any description. (I'm not sure exactly what "powder blue" is, but in modern recipes some cream of tartar is added to this type of royal glaze.)
Martha Washington's Twelfth-cake
Martha Washington (wife of US President George Washington) left a collection of recipes, including a "Great Cake" that could have been served on Twelfth Night, which was also her wedding anniversary. The Mount Vernon historic site has released the original version of the recipe, along with an appropriate icing recipe, also from Mrs. Washington's cookbooks, and modern adaptations originally published in Louise Conway Belden's The Festive Tradition: Table Decoration and Desserts in America, 1650-1900 (W.W. Norton & Company, 1983). The modern recipe calls for only ten eggs, and will fit a 10-inch springform pan. Leela of the blog She Simmers also posts about testing a different adaptation by Jeff Smith.
Other Antique and Modern Adaptations of Twelfth-cake Recipes
The site Homemade Dessert Recipes includes several more 19th-century recipes for twelfth-cakes and icing, including a "Rich Twelfth Night Cake Recipe" published by English confectionery cook Robert Wells in his The Bread and Biscuit Baker's and Sugar-Boiler's Assistant (Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1890); a "Traditional Twelfth Night Cake Recipe" from The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker by Eleanor Parkinson (J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1864), and an "Old-Time Twelfth Night Cake Recipe" from Mrs. Goodfellow's Cookery As It Should Be by Mrs. Elizabeth Goodfellow (T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, 1865).
The site Historical Foods provides a modern version of the Eleanor Parkinson cake mentioned above, which is meant to be spread with apricot preserves, covered with marzipan or almond paste, and then iced with royal glaze.
A very workable-looking and fairly modern recipe appears in Country Recipes of Old England by Helen Edden (Country Life, 1929). In fact, it looks a lot like a simplified, quartered version of the William Kitchiner recipe, down to the icing:
The site Historical Foods provides a modern version of the Eleanor Parkinson cake mentioned above, which is meant to be spread with apricot preserves, covered with marzipan or almond paste, and then iced with royal glaze.
A very workable-looking and fairly modern recipe appears in Country Recipes of Old England by Helen Edden (Country Life, 1929). In fact, it looks a lot like a simplified, quartered version of the William Kitchiner recipe, down to the icing:
- ½ lb flour
- ½ lb castor sugar
- ½ lb butter
- 4 eggs
- 1 lb currants
- 2 oz blanched almonds
- 3 oz mixed candied peel
- A little grated nutmeg
- ½ gill (¼ cup) brandy
Cream the butter and sugar together, beat in the eggs separately for two minutes, next stir in the brandy, and then lightly sift in the flour by degrees, add the washed currants, shredded peel and almonds. Put into a large cake tin lined with buttered paper, and bake slowly for about three hours. When cold decorate with royal icing...
- 1 lb icing sugar
- juice of one lemon
- whites of 2 eggs
Sift the icing sugar ... place the whites of the eggs in a separate basin with the strained lemon juice. Add a little of this to the icing sugar, working and beating well with a wooden spoon, then a little more, until the whole is mixed and is smooth and creamy. Spread a very thin layer over the cake, dipping the knife in cold water; let this dry and it will keep the cake crumbs in place; then put on a thick coating of the icing, decorate with the rest of the icing through a forcer to ornament the edges, and place ... crystalized fruits on top.
Finally, on the blog Baking for Britain, there's a post about twelfth-cakes, with a recipe from Julie Duff's Cakes from Around the World that makes two eight-inch cakes.
Images: The image at the top is a Victorian engraving of the cake and fantasy characters associated with Twelfth Night, from the website Wilson's Almanac. The last image is a modern-day twelfth-cake that illustrates the article "Ten Ages of Christmas" by Christine Lalumia at BBC.com.
Posts
Not exactly a Twelfth Night cake recipe but perhaps a similar result and a bit easier to make - from LCBO Food and Drink
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/Victoriancake
I have made this a few times and it's always a smashing success
I will definately try this one for my next royal wedding :)
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post! I do love the traditional recipes that measure ingredients in pounds (including pounds and pounds of flour) - and I always wonder where they found bowls big enough to mix them in!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of Twelfth Cake being a bit lighter than traditional British fruit cakes - I may just try making one!