No. 3253

Plum Cake

Gateau aux Raisins de Corinthe

Butter a charlotte mold five and a half inches in diameter by five inches high; at the bottom lay a round piece of paper and line the sides with a band of the same. This should reach three-quarters of an inch beyond the edge and should be serrated all around. Place three-quarters of a pound of butter in a vessel with the same weight of sugar and beat together to have it creamy, then add six whole eggs, one at a time, one gill of rum, six ounces of currants cleaned and softened in hot water, three ounces of preserved cherries cut in four, three ounces of citron cut up finely, a pinch of powdered carbonate of ammonia, and lastly fourteen ounces of sifted flour. Fill the mold three-quarters full with this, and stand it on a baking plate; push it into a slack oven to bake, and when done unmold on a grate to cool thoroughly without removing the paper, then place it on a dish covered with a folded napkin and serve.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer gives weights but no time and no temperature, which is the main gap to fill. This is a heavy, fruit-laden butter cake baked slowly in a tall mold.

The moldA charlotte mold 5½ inches across and 5 inches high holds roughly 2 quarts; filled three-quarters full it takes about 6 cups of batter. A tall 7-cup panettone paper, a 6-inch deep cake pan or a 2-quart pudding basin all work. Ranhofer does not say why the paper band should stand ¾ inch above the rim, but it gives the cake room to rise past the edge of the mold.
"Slack oven"Roughly 275 to 325F; period usage puts a slack oven at the cool end of the scale. A cake this deep and this rich needs the low end; at 350F the outside sets and colors long before the center is done.
Time and donenessNo time is given. Expect 1½ to 2 hours at 300-325F. Go by an instant-read thermometer in the center, 200-205F, rather than by color, since the currants and citron keep the crumb dark and moist.
A gillHalf a cup. Half a cup of rum in a cake this size is assertive but correct for the period.
Carbonate of ammoniaBaker's ammonia, also sold as hartshorn. It is still available and still legal, but it works by gassing off ammonia, which escapes cleanly only from thin, dry baked goods. In a five-inch-deep cake the smell can linger. A little baking powder, about a teaspoon sifted with the flour, is a workable substitute for the pinch called for here.
CurrantsDried Zante currants, not fresh red or black currants and not raisins. Softening them in hot water for ten minutes and draining them well keeps them from drawing moisture out of the crumb.
CitronCandied citron peel, the thick-cut kind sold around the winter holidays. If it is unavailable, candied orange or lemon peel is the nearest substitute in texture and bitterness; ordinary mixed "fruitcake peel" is sweeter and softer.
Creaming and curdlingSix eggs into ¾ pound of butter is a lot of liquid. Add them one at a time as directed and take a spoonful of the measured flour with the last two if the mixture looks broken.
Yield and servingAbout 16 thin slices. Ranhofer cools it unmolded with the paper still on, then sets it on a dish covered with a folded napkin to serve; he does not say whether the paper comes off before it goes to table.

A Little History

Ranhofer's French title, gateau aux raisins de Corinthe, names the fruit exactly: raisins of Corinth, which is where the English word "currant" comes from, the small dried grapes shipped for centuries out of Greek ports. The English name he puts above it, plum cake, is older and looser, since "plum" in English baking long meant any dried fruit in a pudding or cake rather than the fresh stone fruit. The recipe sits in the section of large cakes for entremets, that is, among the large cakes served with the sweet course rather than among keeping-cakes; the fruit load here, twelve ounces against fourteen ounces of flour, is modest by fruitcake standards. The carbonate of ammonia is a good period marker: chemical leaveners were well established in professional kitchens by the 1890s, and hartshorn was a pastry cook's standby before baking powder pushed it to the margins.