"Blossoms will / run away, / Cakes reign / but a Day, / But Memory, / like Melody / Is pink, / Eternally" -- Emily Dickinson
One of the most delightful pieces of video I've seen this holiday season was taped in 2015 and features Emily Walhout, research librarian, and Emilie Hardman, research, instruction and digital initiatives librarian, both of whom work at Houghton Library, Harvard University in Cambridge.
These two intrepid researchers took a long, hard look at a very short recipe, "Black Cake," written in the original hand of poet Emily Dickinson. Black Cake is one of many variants on popular brandy-soaked cakes and loaves during the 19th century.
Dickinson's recipe requires 19 eggs, two pounds of flour, five pounds of raisins, a pound and a half of currants, and two pounds of butter (eight sticks), plus spices and baking soda.
The video shows both women assembling these ingredients in Hardman's kitchen (observed by her cats, Mochi and Nori). There is no sense of how much time it took the two women to assemble the ingredients, but it had to have been many hours.
Once butter and sugar was beaten with a wooden spoon, ("no electric mixers in the 19th century,"), the two bakers slowly added flour, eggs, currants and raisins in a container bigger than a punch bowl.
The result is 20 pounds of cake batter that fill pans and casseroles in Hardman's stove, and nearly four hours later, the cake is complete. However, the cake is not finished because Emily Dickinson's Black Cake must rest for 30 days, wrapped in a brandy-soaked cloth. (There's a joke here, which I'm sure W. C. Fields could have figured out.)
Dickinson left details of cookery for interpretation. For example, the addition of "citron" was interpreted by the modern bakers as chopped-up citron that was then candied.
No, we did not bake Black Cake, but we did pay a call at Houghton Library, which houses the "Emily Dickinson Collection." Scholars all over the globe come to visit the "home to over 1,000 poems and letters in the poet's hand, as well as personal effects from her life," such as her writing table and chair.
My son and I visited on the 10th Anniversary of Houghton Library's annual Emily Dickinson celebration, and were delighted to taste Black Cake. The flavor was subtly sweet, slightly fruity, and very moist.
Squares the size of an ice cube were presented in picturesque towers on glass cake stands during a program which also featured symphonic music created by Harvard student composer Jack Damon and a performance by Harvard's steel pan band.
Wait - a steel pan band? What does Caribbean culture have to do with the Belle of Amherst? When she was living at home writing poetry and baking, she used ingredients exported from the tropical islands, such as molasses, sugar, and citron. Thus, Emily Dickinson's Black Cake recipe "had its roots in the Caribbean," explained Emily Walhout at the event.
Also on the table were similar cubes of Coconut Cake. These were dense, dark, and sweet. Visitors had the opportunity to compare the two cakes. Since your intrepid correspondent takes "Family Recipe Box" very seriously, I had three pieces of each.
This may have been a tactical mistake. The moistness of the Black Cake was due to the brandy soak, so I was grateful for strong hot coffee which helped dissipate mild mental fuzziness.
Later, I spoke to Emily Walhout, who talked about the time and care it takes to create a recipe from a list of ingredients. Most particular was gauging the correct amount of cooking time.
Since the bakers determined that Black Cake should be cooked at 250 degrees for "two and a half to three hours," the result can sometimes be less moist than desirable. But as Walhout cheerfully remarked. "if it's dry, just put more alcohol on it, and it will be good!"
I looked up Emily's Black Cake and there are several recipes - the cakes are "black" because the recipe requires treacle (British refined sugar), or molasses, depending on where you are finding the recipe.
If you'd like to make the Houghton Library version, directions to do so can be found on Youtube. Type "Baking Emily Dickinson's Black Cake" into the "search" function. There are a few films labeled "Houghton Library" as the Black Cake bakers make this cake every year.
Last week, we spoke to area firefighters about their favorite cookies at the holidays, and this week, Fitchburg Police Chief Ernie Martineau answered our query and said "oatmeal raisin cookies top the list." We'd love to hear from you -- this week's question is: What's your favorite cookie to bake at the holidays, and do you drop off cookies at area Police, Fire, or DPW?
Sweet, savory, and made in a few minutes. Follow all directions, especially if you are weak of will.
Put ½ cup chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, heat for 30 seconds at a time and stir until melted. Dip pretzels into melted chocolate, then dip into a small bowl with crushed candy canes. Deposit on wax paper on a cookie tray or plate (Put into the fridge to prevent yourself from eating them all). When they have hardened, immediately put them on a small plate covered with clear wrap. Fasten the wrap with seasonal duct tape on the bottom. This will prevent yourself from eating them all. Immediately give to another person.