Saturday the 20th of April is Bram Stoker’s 107th deathiversary. To celebrate, I thought I would play around with a recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks – Death Warmed Over by Lisa Rogak. This cookbook is a collection of recipes and customs from different countries and religions around the world with a common theme of death. The recipe I have chosen is an Irish Wake Cake, in honour of Bram who was born in Ireland on the 8th of November, 1847.
Irish Wake Cake
Ingredients
for the cake
1/2 cup dried currants
1/2 cup mixed peel*
1 + 3/4 cups flour
1 + 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
170g (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
80g (3oz) cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup buttermilk
for the glaze
1/2 cup icing (powdered) sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons brewed black tea**
Instructions
Preheat oven to 160C / 325F.
Line a 22cm (9inch) loaf pan with baking paper.
Place the currants and mixed peel in a small bowl.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl.
Add 1/4 cup of the flour mix to the dried fruit and toss until the fruit is coated in flour.
Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat until fluffy.
Add the eggs one a time and beat until combined.
Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.
Add 1/3rd of the flour mixture and 1/3rd of the buttermilk to the batter and mix until combined. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk.
Add the dried fruit and mix until combined.
Pour batter into prepared baking pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack placed over a tray.
Make the glaze by combining the icing sugar and tea together in a bowl.
Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake and allow to cool completely before serving.
*the original recipe just uses currants. I substituted half the currants for mixed peel as I like the flavour and texture.
**the original icing is a lemon icing. I substituted the lemon juice with black tea as I was curious to see how it would taste and used Earl Grey to compliment the citrus notes of the mixed peel.
vsomethingspeaks 
I have read that Irish wakes used to be pretty crazy! I’d love to know what kind Bram Stoker had!
The cake looks delicious. I like orange and lemon peel, is that what you used? I never tried tea icing. You think of the most interesting combinations!
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I hadn’t really thought about Bram’s funeral! Now I’m curious! I do know he was cremated and his ashes are in London. Maybe he didn’t have a wake? I’ll have to do some more research on this 🙂
Yes I did use orange and lemon peel. I love peel, especially in marmalade. I do feel like a mad scientist in the kitchen! I’m always trying to tweak things and come up with unusual combinations. I love tea and try to add it to all sorts of things 🙂
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I hope Bram had some kind of wake or funeral — a great writer who remained rather obscure in his lifetime.
Mad scientist, that is a great description! But your combos come out yummy!
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I have a couple of Bram Stoker biographies which I haven’t read yet. I’ll get onto them and see if they say anything about his funeral.
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Should make for interesting reading. I always feel bad that Dracula was not recognized for the masterpiece it was during his lifetime. Everyone else reaped the benefits of what Bram created.
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That is so true of many artists – particularly in the horror genre. They never knew how much they gave and how long we keep them “alive!”
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Your Irish Wake Cake looks so good. Love the glazing Earl Grey is my favorite tea what a great idea.
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Earl grey is my favourite but I’m going to make the icing with different teas, maybe even herbal ones like hibiscus or rosehip.
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