Did you know that Halloween originated in Ireland with the harvest festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-win), as evidenced in Old Irish literature from the 9th century? It was a time of honoring the dead, warding off the darkness with huge bonfires, dressing in costume, and divination.
This was a time for foretelling the future, and Barmbrack was baked with symbolic trinkets within. Served up randomly, the objects divined the future of those partaking:
- coin-wealth or good fortune
- cloth or bean-poverty
- ring-will marry within the year
- pea-will not marry within the year;
- matchstick-unhappy marriage
- thimble-single for life.
Doesn’t sound like too much fun, unless you are the winner of the coin or ring, but hopefully the symbol received was taken with a grain of salt.
Fortunately, this modern-day recipe for Barmbrack has trinkets within that only predict good things. All you need to do is go to the jewelry/charm section of your local craft shop. Here is a sampling of charms you can get and their meanings. Clean the charms off and add them to the cake or push them into the bottom of each cake slice before serving.
Charms and Their Meanings
- heart – you are loved
- airplane – you will live a life of adventure
- 4 leaf clover – your luck will change for the better
- flower – you are blossoming
- butterfly – a change is in your future
- cake – you will have a sweet life
- star – make a wish, and it will be granted
- owl – you are a wise one
- compass – follow your intuition
- key – there is a new home in your future
Barmbrack Recipe
Some Barmbracks are yeasted, like the above. Since those are more complicated and time-consuming to prepare, here is a simplified version.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups chopped dried mixed fruit
- 1 ½ cups hot brewed tea
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup lemon marmalade
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Directions
- Soak the dried fruit in the hot tea for 2 hours, then drain and gently squeeze out excess tea.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch Bundt pan. Stir together the flour cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda; set aside.
- Beat the egg, sugar, marmalade, orange zest, and tea-soaked fruit until well combined. Gently fold in the flour until just combined, then pour into the prepared Bundt pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the pan for 2 hours before removing. Continue to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Press the objects of choice into the cake through the bottom before serving.
