Black Cake certainly doesn't sound as festive as Christmas Cake as it was sometimes called , or even Fruit Cake or Plum Pudding. Not only does it not sound festive , black cake doesn't sound too appetizing... thoughts of burnt cookies or toast spring to mind. But it is tasty , rather like a spice cake if only raisins are used. The slices pictured , contain chopped raisins , molasses , spices , and brandy from Lea's 1846 recipe [below]. Black Cake was a 19th century lighter version of the Fruit Cake , with chopped raisins , currants , citron , spices and brandy. A few cookbook authors called it 'Black Cake or Christmas Cake.'
Fruit Cake The book , Economic Cookery. (Newark , NJ: 1840) gave a recipe for a fruit cake and added that “Black Cake is made the same way , with the addition of one teaspoon full of pounded nutmeg , one dozen pounded cloves , mace and cinnamon.” The Fruit Cake ingredients were “1 pound sugar , 1 do. flour , 1 do butter , 10 eggs , 2 pounds raisins stoned and chopped fine , 2 do. dried currants , 1 do. citron.” Christmas Cake “Christmas Cake ,” “New England Wedding Cake ,” and a “Black cake that will keep for a year” were recipe titles for Black Cake. A MAGNIFICENT CHRISTMAS CAKE. Two pounds of flour , two pounds of sugar , two pounds of raisins , stoned and chopped , two pounds of currants , cleaned , one pound of citron , cut in strips , one pound of butter , ten eggs swell , beaten , four tea-spoonsful baking powder mixed with the flour , a pint of sweet milk , lemon , nutmeg , and allspice to taste , and a little salt. Mix and beat thoroughly. Put in plenty of spice. Bake four or five hours , and then ice. Trim it with holly wreath , and branch. [Hirtzler , Victor. The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book. Chicago: 1919] LaFayette tribute In 1824-25 LaFayette took a triumphant return visit to the United States. Several recipes were named in his honor , including Fayette Pudding (Randolph 1825) which was a simple bread pudding , Lafayette Gingerbread (Leslie 1828) , and Lafayette Cakes (Allen 1845) as listed HERE Christmas Cakes were not left out of the name changing. An article titled "La Fayette Christmas Cake" lyrically described a huge cake in The National Advocate , New York City: Dec 28 , 1824: "...a mammoth Christmas cake , containing 63 pounds of flour from Utica , 270 pounds of currants from the weeping Grecian Isles , 750 eggs from the cackling fowls of Dutchess county , besides citeron from the east , sugar from the west , and a confectioner of splendid talents and unrivalled genius to blend the production of different climates together , and from the apparent confusion make the celebrated La Fayette Cake , of 530 pounds..." Black Cake – with baking soda , Lea 1845
Rub a pound and a half of softened butter in three pounds of flour , add a pound of brown sugar , rolled fine , a pint of molasses , a table-spoonful of rose brandy , a nutmeg or some mace , four eggs well beaten , a pound of raisins stoned and chopped; mix the whole well , and before baking add a tea-cup of sour cream with a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in it—beat it up again , have the pans -well buttered , and put in about three parts full; this quantity will make about six cakes , in bread pans; bake as bread and if it brown too much , put paper on it , if it seems too stiff , add a little more molasses or cream. It will keep several weeks in cold weather. [Elizabeth Ellicott Lea (1793-1858) was born in Ellicott City , Md and wrote three editions of Domestic Cookery , the first edition in 1845]
Icing
Leslie gave this recipe for the icing in her 1844 book:
The basic ratio was “A quarter of a pound [1/2 cup] of finely powdered loafsugar , of the whitest and best quality , is the usual allowance to one white of egg. … Beat the white of egg by itself till it stands alone. Have ready the powdered sugar , and then beat it hard into the white of egg , till it becomes thick and smooth; flavouring it as you proceed with a few drops of oil of lemon , or a little extract of roses.
Ice it next morning; first dredging the outside all over with flour , and then wiping it with a towel. This will make the icing stick. Spread it evenly over the cake with a broad knife or a feather; if you find it too thin , beat in a little more powdered sugar. Cover with it thickly the top and sides of the cake , taking care not to have it rough and streaky.
When dry , put on a second coat; and when that is nearly dry , lay on the ornaments. You may flower it with coloured sugar-sand or nonparels; but a newer and more elegant mode is to decorate it with devices and borders in white sugar; they can be procured at the confectioners , and look extremely well on icing that has been tinted with pink by the addition of a little cochineal.” [Leslie , Eliza. Directions for Cookery , in Its Various Branches , 1844]
“Before you cut an iced cake , cut the icing by itself with a small sharp penknife. The large knife with which you divide the cake , will crack and break the icing.” [Leslie , Eliza. Seventy-five receipts for pastry , cakes and sweetmeats. Boston: 1836]
The image of the cake with the castle "device" and "borders" is from The Little Mouse , who made itself a House in a Christmas Cake , found in Aunt Affable's New Books for Children. London: 1844. HERE The photographs are of a Black Cake made from Elizabeth Ellicott Lea's 1846 receipt which used raisins , brown sugar , molasses and was iced with whipped egg whites and sugar. Each layer of icing was hardened in a slow oven. ©2012 Patricia Bixler Reber
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