From a poetry lover’s kitchen.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

In the 1800s, when our Mirza Ghalib was still alive, there lived another poet. She didn’t share her writing with the world. After her death, the hundreds and hundreds of poems she had written were discovered hidden under her bed. Today, she is considered one of the greatest literary figures of her time.

Dear reader, you of course know that we are referring to poet Emily Dickinson, who lived thousands of miles away from Ghalib’s Dilli, in the American town of Amherst. Today is ED’s 195th birthday. Each year, her fans across the world celebrate by baking a cake that she would often make for family and friends. This weekend, an ED devotee in Delhi baked it for us.

The attaché for Books and Ideas at the French Institute in India, Julia Trouilloud, first met ED during a difficult time in her life. It happened some years ago in Paris, when she briefly lost her eyesight and had to temporarily step away from work. With time to spare, “I would walk along the Seine for hours, listening to Emily’s poems on my audiobook.”

Here is ED’s black cake, baked by Julia in her elegant central Delhi residence.

Ingredients

For syrup
2 cups sugar, 2 cups water, 1/2 cup brandy

For fruit (all diced)
340 gm dried raisins, 110 gm dried cranberries, 110 gm dried apricots, 110 gm dried prunes, 55 gm dried apples, 55 gm pitted date, and 1/4 cup brandy

For cake
1 3/4 cups flour, 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, 3/4 teaspoons baking soda, 3/4 teaspoons salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves, 1 1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg, 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 50gm butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 orange zested, 6 eggs, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/4 cup molasses

Method
For syrup: Combine sugar and water in saucepan over medium-high heat; cook, until sugar dissolves. Let cool, pour into a container. Stir in 1/2 cup brandy. Refrigerate.

For fruit
Toss dry fruits with 1/4 cup brandy in a bowl, until evenly moistened.

For cake
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger in a bowl. Beat butter in another bowl until creamy. Add sugar, mix. Add vanilla, orange zest. Add eggs one by one, beating each time. Pour molasses. Add flour mixture, mix. Reserve few tablespoons of flour and toss with dry fruit. Fold into batter. Pour batter into cake pan. Bake for half hour. Add brandy syrup over cake. Serve the cake by reading aloud this ED poem:
“Blossoms will run away,
Cakes reign but a Day,
But Memory like Melody
Is pink Eternally.”

PS: Photo shows the cake maker holding the precious first edition of Emily Dickinson’s complete poems