After
sundown on January 5th is ‘Twelfth Night’, the eve of Epiphany.
There has been a long tradition of special cakes to mark the end of the Twelve
Days of Christmas, and today I bring you a rhyming recipe from The
Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser (West Yorkshire, England), Saturday,
December 21, 1867
TWELFTH CAKE
To two pounds of flour –
well sifted – unite
Of loaf-sugar, ounces sixteen;
Two pounds of fresh butter,
with eighteen fine eggs,
Add four pounds of currants
washed clean;
Eight ounces of almonds,
well blanched and cut small,
The same weight of citron
slice;
Of orange and lemon peel,
candied one ounce,
Or a little less, perhaps,
may suffice;
A large nutmeg grated; about
half an ounce
Of allspice, but only a
quarter
Of mace, coriander, and
ginger well ground
Or pounded to dust in a mortar
An important addition is cinnamon which
Is better increased than diminished –
The fourth of an ounce is sufficient. Now this
May be baked four hours until finished.
Other
recipes for food for Twelfth Day can be found in previous
posts:
And Twelfth
Night Cider Punch is here:
http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2015/01/twelfth-night-cider-punch-1919.html