About the author Veruska Anconitano Veruska is a a food travel journalist with awards to her credit, such as World Best Food Travel Journalist. She holds a certification as a sommelier and she is also an ardent lover of the outdoors. Aside from this, Veruska is a Multilingual SEO and Localization Consultant and co-owns multiple websites that cater to a global audience. WebsiteLinkedinTwitter
Baking an Irish Barmbrack has become a tradition since I moved to Ireland. The Barmbrack is a traditional Irish fruitcake baked for Halloween.
In Gaelic, it’s known as báirín breac or ‘speckled loaf.’ Traditionally, a ring, a penny, a pea, or a small piece of clothing was baked into the Cake, and each item had a special significance for the person who discovered it in their slice of Cake. Nowadays, it’s usually just a ring that is added to the batter.
The recipe for a perfect Barmbrack is like the traditional Italian recipes: every Irish family has its own, and it’s pretty hard to find the perfect one.
I’ve been using the following recipes for years now, and it partially comes from a friend of mine from the Kerry region and partly from my experience while baking: the result is a soft and rich dough you can have for breakfast or as a snack buttered and, eventually, toasted as well.
Ingredients for a 20 x 16 cm Barmbrack
225 grams of all-purpose flour
375 grams of candied fruits and raisins
300 ml of iced tea
125 grams of sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
A generous handful of mixed spices (cinnamon, ginger, cloves)
Instructions
Soak the raisins and the candied fruits in tea for at least a couple of hours. After this period of time, in the same bowl pour flour, sugar, the lightly beaten egg, the spices and the baking powder stirring well in order to get a creamy and soft dough.
Transfer the dough into a greased baking loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour at 170°C.
Allow the Barmbrack to cool then serve with a nob of butter or some honey.
It’s been said that the Barmbrack has to be made two days in advance and wrapped in oiled paper before being cut, but if it is prepared the same day and you let it cool, it is excellent;
Being similar to an Italian panettone means that this Cake tends to dry out quickly, so it’s better to always wrap it in oiled paper or store it in a sealed container;
If you want to add an item inside the Barmbrack, make sure not to choose a small one or a gigantic one and add it to the dough once it’s been already made and before transferring it into the pan);
You can freeze your Barmbrack as a whole or in batches to eat it all year round. It’s perfect at Christmas time because it’s very similar to the Irish Christmas Cake;
You can soak the raisins in Irish whiskey; the Cake becomes stingy, but it’s tastier and more generous (not suitable for the kids!).
What you need to make the Halloween Irish Cake:
A stand mixer: we’ve compileda list of the best stand mixers for home usebut if you want to have a quick solution, we highly recommend a classicKitchenAid KSM75SL Classic Plusor theAucma Stand Mixerif you’re looking for something cheaper;
A baking loaf pan: the shape is part of this traditional Irish Cake, so make sure you have a baking loaf pan for your dough.
The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of fortune-telling game.In the cake were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence), a ring, and a bean.
Barmbrack (Irish: bairín breac), also often shortened to brack, is a yeast bread with added sultanas and raisins. The bread is associated with Halloween in Ireland, where an item (often a ring) is placed inside the bread, with the person receiving it considered to be fortunate.
It is tradition to add objects to the barmbrack which symbolize certain things for the person who receives it in their slice: a coin — wealth or good fortune; a ring — will marry within the year; a bean — poverty; a pea — will not marry within the year; a matchstick — unhappy marriage; a thimble — single for life.
Barmbrack. From the Irish name 'Bairín Breac' this is a traditional Irish Halloween cake which essentially a sweet bread with fruit through it as well as some other treats. Shop-bought barmbracks still contain and ring but if you make it at home and add your own treats it's even more fun.
Houses are bedecked with Jack O'Lanterns, broomsticks and other Halloween decorations, while in Ireland the family may share a traditional Halloween fruitcake called a barnbrack. A number of family orientated events are held throughout Ireland to celebrate Halloween.
“Cailín” is the Irish slang for “girl.” A lot of Irish people still use this word even when speaking in English. The plural, “Cailíní,” is also commonly used, for example, “I'm meeting up with the cailíní later on.”
Barmbrack, Irish tea brack or in Gaelic, bairín breac (meaning speckled loaf) is a traditional sweetened bread commonly made around the Halloween season in Ireland. Many of the older traditional recipes use yeast, and are lighter in colour and texture than the bracks most people come across today.
The bread was used as a type of fortune telling game. Each hidden item, when received in a slice, had a different meaning. Usually related to marriage or riches. Ring: receiving a ring would mean that you would be wed within the year.
As its Irish language name bairín breac (speckled bread) suggests, barmbrack has much in common with the Welsh bara brith: a plain, yet richly fruited bread that's well suited to a generous topping of butter, and an excellent accompaniment to a pot of tea.
Each item had a special significance for the person who discovered it in their slice of cake. The person who received the pea wouldn't marry that year; the stick meant an unhappy marriage; the cloth indicated poverty and the coin riches; while the person who found the ring would wed within the year.
There is a piece of rag, a coin and a ring in each cake, with each item having a meaning behind it. The rag suggested your financial future is in doubt. The coin is a positive sign and suggests a prosperous year. A ring is also positive and suggests impending romance or continued happiness.
Traditionally celebrated on the 31st of October – 1st November, the Celtic festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the annual harvest and the coming of Winter. Samhain consisted of many different acts and rituals, all of which began in Ireland and created what we now know as Halloween!
Samhain / Halloween. An excerpt from Tlachtga: Celtic Fire Festival by John Gilroy. The Festival of Samhain marked the end of the Celtic year and the beginning of the new one and as such can be seen to the equivalent of New Year's Eve.
Halloween was invented in Ireland. The roots of Halloween can be traced back 2,000 years to the Celtic Samhain festival, which celebrated the end of summer. Although today, Halloween is celebrated practically all over the world, its origin lies in the pagan Celtic festival of 'Samhain', around 100 A.D. approximately.
Ring: receiving a ring would mean that you would be wed within the year. Cloth: a piece of cloth is not so good, and it meant you would either be poor or have bad luck. Coin: a coin, usually a silver sixpence, meant you would enjoy riches or good fortune. Pea: the pea meant you would not marry that year.
This very Irish Halloween tradition decided your fate, depending on what you found inside. Expand. Barmbrack: whoever got the ring would marry, whoever got the cloth would be a nun and whoever got the stick would never marry. Aoife McElwain.
Apples were and still are a popular fruit in Ireland. Some of the Halloween games that I played as a child that involved apples included bobbing for apples and snap apple. Bobbing for apples is a game that is synonymous with Halloween.
Introduction: My name is Jonah Leffler, I am a determined, faithful, outstanding, inexpensive, cheerful, determined, smiling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
