Barnbrack Cake

The Barnbrack cake - also known as barn brack or barm brack - is an old Irish recipe that's frequently cooked and eaten at Halloween. It's especially appropriate for this spooky festival because of its use as a divination tool.

What Is Barnbrack Cake?

Barnbrack is a sweet, fruity bread - somewhere between a bread and a cake. The name comes from the presence of the fruit - usually raisins, sultanas and fruit peel - and literally means "speckled loaf". The exact recipe varies considerably depending on region, tradition and personal taste. Barnbrack is often toasted and spread with butter.

Divination

The barnbrack cake was traditionally used as a simple fortune telling device. Little items would be wrapped and baked into the cake. Which if any of these you found in your slice was supposed to indicate your prosects for the year ahead.

The traditional items used in barnbrack were a coin, a rag and a ring. Getting the coin would mean that you would do well financially, the rag meant lean times ahead. The ring, of course, symbolised romance and possibly marriage. Today other items are sometimes added for larger groups of people.

A word of caution: people can easily choke on items in food, so if you plan to use this idea then make sure everyone knows and removes any items before eating.