Emily Dickinson's Cocoanut Cake Recipe
During her lifetime, few people knew that Emily Dickinson wrote poetry (that would come later), but she did gain a reputation as a stellar baker around her hometown of Amherst, MA. Her prize-winning rye loaves, spiced black cake, and batches of gingerbread she lowered from her window for neighborhood kids earned plenty of adoration, even as the beginnings of poems scribbled in the kitchen stayed hidden away.
With an exhibit of manuscripts opening today in New York City, fans can savor one more crumb of her work--her recipe for coconut cake. The document, found with two other letters pasted inside a first edition book of Dickinson's letters, is part of the collection of Donald and Patricia Oresman, which is going on display for the first time at Poets House in Manhattan.
Curlicued C's, "cocoanuts" (as the fairly exotic imports were known) and "teaspoonfuls" are some of the details to eat up. And while the recipe offers no other notation than "this makes one half the rule" -- which may be profound enough -- book collector Carolyn Smith has tested it out and devised directions. It has a pound-cake texture, and should be baked in a loaf pan.
Emily Dickinson's "Cocoanut" Cake
INGREDIENTS
1 cup coconut
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
PREPARATION
Beat the butter and sugar, then stir in the other ingredients, adding the coconut last. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 65 minutes.
Note: This recipe has not been tested by the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen.
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