18^th century

Black Caps

Ihave the best possible memory of this simple pudding on a rather chilly day in May in an old Cumbrian longhouse owned by food historian Ivan Day. The apples were baked in an authentic wood-fired stove and filled the house with that comforting scent apples can give to a breeze in the air. They came out of the oven, black as if they’d been to hell and back, and were eaten for pudding after a most memorable meal and in the company of the most diverse food history enthusiasts.

I was told by my host that this is the original toffee apple. Recipes for toffee apples only appeared around the end of Victorian times, when venerable publications such as the Yorkshire Evening Post, on 14 July 1896, warned of the ‘dangers’ of this new craze among the young.

For Black Caps, a few recipes can be found in the eighteenth century; each writer has their own way of creating this dish, so I would say make it your own by altering it to your taste.

Take six large apples, and cut a slice off the bottom end, put them in a tin, and set them in a quick oven till they are brown, then wet them with rose water, and grate a little sugar over them, and set them in the oven again till they look bright, and very black, then take them out, and put them into a deep china dish or plate, and pour round them thick cream custard, or white wine and sugar. It is a pretty corner dish for either dinner or supper.

Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper, 1782

6 dessert apples, such as jonagold or orange cox

about 2 tablespoons sugar, to sprinkle

1 tablespoon orange flower water or rosewater

a naughty drizzle of Grand Marnier (orange-flavoured liqueur) or brandy (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

Wash the apples and slice off a strip of the skin around the middle to prevent the apples from popping. Sprinkle the apples with sugar. Arrange them in a baking tray and drizzle the rosewater or orange flower water over so each apple has some splashes.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes have passed, remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little more sugar and add Grand Marnier or brandy, if you like, before the apples go back in the oven. Makes for a rather festive dish, but is no must.

Put the apples back into the oven for a further 30 minutes, until quite tender but not reduced to pulp. The apples should be blackened, hence the name ‘Black Caps’.

Fabulous with custard sauce, clotted cream and ice cream, I mostly enjoy them with a thick strained yoghurt for breakfast or an afternoon nibble.

Cooking over a fire? Use the Dutch oven method: Rest a heatproof dish holding the apples on a trivet in a Dutch oven. Fire the coals and let them go grey, then stand the pot over the coals on a trivet and place some of the coals on the Dutch oven’s lid. As fire is unpredictable I can’t give you an exact cooking time, but check after 30 minutes; if they aren’t already well on their way, the coals aren’t hot enough.