Making the Twelfth Night Cake

A reproduction Twelfth Night cake.

It’s almost Twelfth Night, which means our “Salutations of the Season!” celebration is nearing! To be fully prepared, what do you need most? Why a Twelfth Night cake, of course! This cake was the centerpiece of Twelfth Night celebrations. It was typically white cake with white frosting. Small gum figures decorated the top. But don’t forget the most important part—the bean! A bean was baked into the Twelfth Night cake, and the person who got the bean in their slice of cake was the king or queen of Twelfth Night. If you don’t want to bake a bean into your cake, equally historically accurate to the time period is handing out slips of paper. Whoever gets ones marked with an x is the queen or king of Twelfth Night.

Do you want to try making your own Twelfth Night cake? Here’s our recipe—enjoy!

Twelfth Night Cake

Ingredients

½ lb. unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ lb. sugar

½ tsp. grated nutmeg

5 eggs, beaten

½ lb. raisins, soaked in brandy

¼-cup brandy

1 cup blanched almonds, chopped

½ lb. all-purpose flour

1 dried bean (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and lemon-colored.

3. In a separate bowl beat the eggs. Add the eggs and brandy to the butter-sugar mixture. Stir in the flour and the spices and mix thoroughly. Add the raisins (reserve the brandy), almonds, and (optional) good-luck bean. Mix thoroughly.

4. Butter a 12-inch cake tin and line it with buttered wax paper. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for three hours. If the top browns too much during cooking, cover with foil.

Glaze

Ingredients

1 cup confectionary sugar

¼ cup brandy

Directions

1. Mix the raisin-soaked brandy with the sugar until smooth.

2. Pour over the top of the cake.

3. Garnish with additional powdered sugar if desired.