Twelfth Cake in Rhyme.

After sundown on January 5^th 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:

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2007/01/twelfth-day-of-christmas.html

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2006/01/art-of-tarts.html

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2010/01/cod-cakes-and-king-cakes.html

And Twelfth Night Cider Punch is here:

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2015/01/twelfth-night-cider-punch-1919.html