TWELFTH DAY CAKE

Author: * GaiusAurelius Valerius - 4 Posts on this thread out of 34 Posts sitewide.
Date: Dec 15, 2009 - 19:49

`A recipe with an ancient heritage`

Or choosing the King of the Bean.

Saturnalia and related festivals of its day were ruled by a mock king, chosen by bean ballot. This evolved into the holiday practice of baking a cake containing a bean. Eventually, this tradition was linked to Twelfth Night. Medieval versions contained a bean and a pea...one for the King and the other for the Queen. A Candlegrove visitor explains the tradition thusly: "The Bean is for the King and the Pea is for the Queen. If a female gets the bean or a male gets the pea then they get the honor of choosing the King or Queen."

TWELFTH DAY CAKE

1/2 cup rum
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup currants
1 cup seedless dark raisins

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon mace
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1 dried pea
1 dried bean
1/2 cup blanched almonds, roughly chopped
3 cups flour, approximately
Fancy Icing

In a bowl, combine the rum with the raisins and currants. Let stand for several hours. Drain the fruit and reserve the rum.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch cake pan that is at least 3 inches deep with butter or shortening. Line with baking parchment.

Cream butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until very light and frothy. Beat in 3 T of the reserved rum and stir in the spices and lemon rind. Stir in the pea and the bean. Stir in the almonds and the flour and mix well to make a smooth batter. Fold in the rum-soaked fruit.

Spoon the batter into prepared cake pan and bake at 275 degrees F for about 2 hours, or until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in cake pan until just warm. Turn cake out onto cooling rack and peel away baking parchment. When completely cool spread top with Fancy Icing.

FANCY ICING

2 egg whites, room temperature
pinch salt
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Beat egg whites with salt till very frothy. Beat in sugar and lemon juice till stiff peaks form. Add more sugar if needed to make a stiff paste. You can separate out portions to color with food coloring.