To celebrate the occasion, I made Rich Cake from Amanda M. Gamble's War of 1812-themed cookbook, The Fort George Bill of Fare. It's an adaptation from Hannah Glasse's instructions "To Make a Rich Cake" in the 1747 cookbook The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy. It's a yeasted cake made with wine, brandy, raisins and rosewater, among other ingredients.
It had a strong wine smell before baking, and I wondered if it would taste something like wine biscuits—a Rhode Island delicacy—but the finished product was very much like raisin bread, with the flavour of cinnamon predominating. I have included the recipe if you want to try this yourself!
RICH CAKE
3 1⁄2 cups flour
1 cup butter
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1⁄2 cup red wine
1⁄2 cup milk (or water)
1 tsp. yeast
2 tsp. warm water
1⁄2 cup raisins
2 tbsp. brandy
2 tbsp. rosewater
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
In a small bowl dissolve one tsp. yeast into 2 tsp. warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, rub butter into flour. Add in eggs, wine, milk and yeast, mixing well. Cover tightly and set aside overnight.
Next morning, soak raisins with brandy for one hour. Mix together raisins, rosewater, sugar and cinnamon —add to batter. Pour into two cake pans. Bake at 350° F for 50-55 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean, when stuck in the middle of the cake.
My notes:
I used 8-inch and 6-inch springform cake pans, greased with butter. You could probably use two 8-inch pans, or loaf pans with adjusted baking time. Lining the pans with parchment paper would have made the cakes less browned on the edges, but they are fine.
The most distressing part of the instructions was the line "set aside overnight." Set aside where?? So I wrapped the bowl and let it sit out, unrefrigerated. (I mean, they didn't have refrigerators in the 18th century.) The batter rose slowly, much slower than a bread recipe, but was appreciably larger in the morning.
I used rose extract diluted in lieu of rosewater. (The "Angel Bake" brand made for human consumption; there are also recipes online to make your own rose extract/rosewater for cooking).
Black Forest Cake Mix
This mix makes it easy to prepare Black Forest Cake, the famous, rich Cake. Each box contains Cake Mix, Cherry Filling, Filling Mix and Chocolatey Flakes. Comes with Step by Step Directions. Take 4 simple steps to prepare the cake.
