I'll be working on a copyediting project this morning; but this afternoon, if all goes according to plan, I'll be baking my annual batch of Emily Dickinson's black cake. For those who don't know the story, my mother-in-law used to be the curator of Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, Massachusetts. While she was there, she reworked Dickinson's original recipe into modern proportions; and I have since fiddled with it myself. Baking, like language, is changeable in all seasons.

Em's black cake is an aged, brandy-fortified fruitcake that is composed primarily of currants held together with a butter-rich batter. Usually I also add some golden raisins and chopped citron, although this year I cannot seem to track down any citron in local grocery stores so I may need to leave it out. Anyway, here's the recipe again.

And meanwhile, I'll leave you with this tiny, two-line poem scrap, undated and aptly ambiguous.

Poem 1707

Emily Dickinson

Winter under cultivation

Is as arable as Spring.

Emily Dickinson’s Black Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ tablespoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1¼ teaspoon ground mace

1 cup butter, softened

1¼ cups brown sugar (turbinado or demerara sugar is my preference)

5 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

¼ cup brandy

¼ cup molasses

2½ cups golden raisins

3 cups currants

1½ cups chopped citron

extra brandy for brushing onto the cakes

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

Grease 3 full-size loaf pans (or 1 full-size loaf pan and 4 mini-loaf pans) and line the bottoms and sides with parchment paper cut to fit. Grease and flour the paper-lined pans.

Sift together the flour, baking power, and spices.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until they are fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla.

With the mixer set on its lowest speed, beat in the flour mixture alternately with the brandy and molasses, beginning and ending with the flour.

With a wooden spoon (or, even better, using the dough hook of your electric mixer), beat in the dried fruit and the citron.

Divide the mixture among the prepared pans. Bake the full-size loaves for 1½ hours; check the mini-loaves after 1 hour. The tops should be firm to the touch, and the sides should have begun to pull away from the pan.

Leave the cakes in the pans to cool completely. Then remove and peel off the paper. Brush the cakes on all sides with brandy, and wrap them tightly in foil. Store the cakes in a cool place for at least 2 weeks, opening the packages after 1 week to brush them again with brandy.