Twelfth Night Celebration

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
May 12, 2010
Location
Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
When you count Christmas as the first night, the twelfth night falls on January 5, the vigil or eve of Epiphany. Twelfth night is a festival older and technically more important then Christmas in parts of Christendom. Epiphany commemorates three crucial events in in Christian history: the Baptism of Jesus, the visit of the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem, and the Miracle at Cana. It is one of the chief occasions celebrated in England. They have feasting, and masked balls. It is also a day of gift-giving in many lands.

The custom of choosing a King for Twelfth Night was brought to England by the Romans. The enormous cake baked for Epiphany contained a bean and a pea. When the slices were served early in the evening, the man who found the bean was crowned King of the Bean : the pea finder became the queen.

Twelfth Night continued unabated when the colonists brought the holiday to this country. In old Virginia, Twelfth Night was called Old Christmas and was the occasion of grand balls and parties.

There was a great amount of food for Twelfth Night. The Cake commanded the center of the main table. Around the great cake, were trays of tempting little cakes, tarts, nuts, and candies. The house owners used all the crystal and silver and china they owned.

A menu for Twelfth Night from South Carolina consisted of:

Overnight Smoked Turkey
Pickled Shrimp
Scalloped Oysters
Miniature Rolls
Sauteed Walnuts
Sugared Nuts
Tiny Sweet Rolls
Banbury Tarts
Homemade Fudge
Candied Orange and Lemon peel
Twelfth Night Cake
Wassil
Shrub

it was a great feast.

from: "The Southern Heritage Celebrations Cookbook" published in 1983 by Oxmoor House.
 
Recipe for Twelfth Night Cake

1 cup raisins
1 cup currants
1 cup chopped candied pineapple
1/2 cup chopped candied red cherries
3/4 cup bourbon
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup ground almonds
1 dried pinto bean
1 dried black-eyed pea

Combine the first 5 ingredients; stir well. Cover the mixture; let stand overnight,

Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift flour and spices together; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Stir in almond-fruit mixture.

Spoon batter into a greased and waxed paper-lined 9 inch springform pan. Press bean and pea just below the surface of batter.

Bake at 300 degrees for two hours or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely in pan.

Yield: one 9-inch cake.

From: "The Southern Heritage Celebrations Cookbook" page 26.
 
"The East Coast colonists called it "Twefth Cake". It began with two ponds each of butter and sugar; then eighteen eggs were added, and it went on until the batter was complete with bean and pea. The Twelfth Night cake has now settled into a more manageable cake, more like a pound cake and not so highly flavored with ginger and the other spices. You still will want to bake the bean and pea into the cake, and cut it early in order to have monarchs, the King and Queen, on duty."

From: "The Southern Heritage Celebrations Cookbook", page 26.
 
Time to celebrate Twelfth Night. Thought bump this thread.
The official end of Christmas Season.

Now . . . the official start of Mardi Gras Season begins !


:dance: :dance: :dance:
 
In France we have the "Galette de Roi" for Epiphany, made of puff pastry filled with frangipane. Instead of a bean, a "feve",
a tiny porcelain figurine, is inserted and everybody searches his slice before biting into it......

I've seen some of those figurines.
They are exquisite !

Unfortunately, in the USA . . . we abandoned that tradition and decided to import millions of generic little plastic naked "baby" figures from Asia.

:nah disagree:

One can easily get choked on theses things if they swallow the wrong slice of "King Cake".

king-cake-baby.jpg


 
Back
Top