MetaChat - Everything was quiet indoors,

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16 December 2008

Everything was quiet indoors, only the crack of the fire every so often, and the click-click of the knitting needles, and my sighs. My sighs, you say? Well, yes, my sighs. Because I wasn't happy. I'd fallen into remembering, and that's a bad habit for a woman of fifty. I'd got a warm fire, a roof over my head and a cooked dinner inside of me, but was I content? Not I. So there I sat sighing over my gray sock, while the rain kept coming. After a time I got up to fetch a slice of plum cake from the pantry, nice and mature, fed with brandy. Cheered me up no end. →[More:]

mmmm. I read this passage today, and now I long to be cheered up no end by plum cake fed with brandy. Does anyone have a proper recipe for such a thing?

From a minor character in The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield; great book!

post by: taz at: 10:23 | 7 comments

I thought a "plum cake fed with brandy" was, basically, a fruit cake? I really like a proper fruit cake, myself. On the other hand, I've been meaning to try this plum cake for ages.

posted by crush-onastick 16 December | 10:37

I have knitted gray yarn. I know the feeling.

;)

posted by halonine 16 December | 11:01

Not sure a plum cake actually has to contain plums - sounds like a normal Christmas cake here, traditionally made weeks in advance and dribbled with brandy from time to time before Christmas.

Here we go: looks like it was originally a 'plumb cake'...
Linky to recipe

posted by altolinguistic 16 December | 11:03

Here's a semi-plausible explanation as to why it doesn't have plums in it (plum/plumb was another word for any dried fruit like raisins, it seems).

Back to work, alto!!!

posted by altolinguistic 16 December | 11:05

I HATE this time of year. I mean, I love it, but I can't eat most Christmas food because of all the alcohol in it.

The other year I made a fruit cake and instead of brandy, I drizzled it with prune juice the day before it was due to be served and it was lovely and moist and yummy. But you can't do it too far ahead, or the juice will ferment with the sugar in the cake and turn to alcohol.

posted by essexjan 16 December | 12:18

Cool! I'm edified! Plum cake does not necessarily = "plum" cake; interesting! That Foody recipe sounds like the real deal... but wowzer! Five pounds of flour and three pounds of butter, heh.

I also found this from Nigel Slater for Christmas cake, and it sounds like a great updating. Crush-onastick's link for "plum" plum cake is also extremely tempting.

posted by taz 17 December | 06:22

Ooh, trust it if it's by Nigel Slater. That man knows how to make a good cake. I'm making his Christmas pudding this year, and it looks and smells awesome.

posted by altolinguistic 17 December | 10:59

← Man, that's a beautiful ad. || Christmas Recipes. →

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