Book of Days Tales

Today is Pentecost or Whitsunday, celebrating the day (50 days after Easter) that the Spirit descended on the disciples of Jesus and they spoke in tongues (a blessing I could use right about now). It is customary to wear red today symbolizing the flames that appeared over the disciples’ heads. Whitsun is a contraction of White Sunday which may be a confusion or misunderstanding of the Anglo-Saxon wit or wytte meaning “understanding,” that is, the day on which the apostles finally understood the message that Jesus preached. Or, it may refer to the fact that in the Middle Ages catechumens who had dedicated themselves to Christianity on Easter Sunday wore white because they were about to be baptized. Take your pick.

In many regions of England it was customary to bake a special cake for the Whit season.  Here is one from Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire Whitsun Cake

Ingredients

170 gm unsalted butter
¼ tsp salt
625 gm strong plain flour
2 sachets fast-action yeast

170 gm unsalted butter
300 ml milk

450 gm currants
450 gm soft light brown sugar
60 gm butter
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp allspice

1 large egg white for glazing
caster sugar

Instructions

Grease and line with parchment paper two 20cm loose-bottom or spring-form cake tins. Tart tins are not suitable, as the sides need to be relatively high because of the cakes rising both before and during cooking.

Put the first four ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Tip the mixture into a bowl.

Gently warm the butter and milk together until the butter has melted.

Allow to cool to blood temperature, then add to the flour mixture. It will form a very soft dough.

Knead for 10 minutes, then set aside to rise for 30 minutes.

Mix the fruit, sugar, yolk, butter and spices together in a saucepan and warm through until moist and the fruit soft.

After 30 minutes, divide the dough into two and then each half into four equal pieces.

Divide the fruit filling into six

Pat each piece of dough into a circle of diameter 20cm and place in the prepared tins, alternating with layers of the fruit mixture. The top layer will be of dough.

Set the tins aside to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180° C/355º F.

Bake the cakes for 30 minutes, then remove and quickly brush them with the beaten egg-white and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Return to the oven and bake for a further 25-30 minutes, until the top is browned and the cakes have shrunk away from the sides of the tin a little.

Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack.

Eat warm, or wait until completely cold before wrapping tightly in foil and storing in a tin, or wrap in plastic and freeze for later.