Hello! I'm so so sorry that it's been so long! I've been back at school for a few weeks now and, bleeding hell, they don't hold back in Year 13! I've been weighed down with homework and written a pantomime, as well as baked a few birthday cakes for friends, all in the last few weeks! Fair to say I'm a bit exhausted.
Right, now that my usual spiel of excuses is out of the way, let's get on with this week's bake. I know that I hinted at something Roman last time but, because it's near the end of September, I decided to re-jig my schedule. So Roman stuff is on its way, I promise! I made these cupcakes on September 21st, in preparation for September 22nd: the anniversary of the abolition of the monarchy in Revolutionary France. During the French Revolution, a new calendar was created. This calendar started on the 22nd September 1792 when the monarchy was abolished. So I decided to celebrate the new revolutionary year with my first attempt at piping. Spoiler alert: it didn't go well!
Background: the French Republican Calendar
The French Republican (or Revolutionary) Calendar was created to symbolise a complete break with the past. Once the monarchy was abolished, France would be entering a completely new era. The French Republican Calendar was part of the Religious Terror, which made France a completely secular state. The Calendar started on the 22nd September 1792, with the 22nd September 1792-21st September 1793 being Year I, the 22nd September 1793-21st September 1794 Year II et cetera. The calendar was formally abolished by Napoleon I in 1805, although it did have a very brief resurgence in 1871.
The calendar was divided up into four seasons: autumn, winter, spring and summer. Each season had three months. Each month was named appropriately for its season by the poet Fabre d'Eglantine. The autumn months were Vendémiaire ('grape harvest'), Brumaire ('fog') and Frimaire ('frost'); the winter months wereNivôse ('snowy'), Pluviôse ('rainy') and Ventôse ('windy'); the spring months were Germinal ('bud'), Floréal ('flowery') and Prairial ('meadow'); and the summer months were Messidor ('harvesting'), Thermidor ('heat') and Fructidor ('fruit'). Each month had thirty days. This left five left over days- six on a leap year. These were known as the "sans-culottides", after the sans-culottes, the urban poor. In 1795, they were renamed "les jours complémentaires" (complementary days). The five extra days were: La Fête de la Vertu (Celebration of Virtue), La Fête du Génie (Celebration of Talent), La Fête du Travail (Celebration of Work), La Fête de l'Opinion (Celebration of Opinion/Conviction), and La Fête des Récompenses (Celebration of Awards/Honours). The sixth extra day, on leap years only, was La Fête de la Révolution (Celebration of Revolution). Each month was formed of three weeks of ten days, with the tenth day being a day of rest. The ten days of the week were: primidi (first day), duodi (second day), tridi (third day), quartidi (fourth day), quintidi (fifth day), sextidi (sixth day), septidi (seventh day), octidi (eighth day), nonidi (ninth day) and decadi (tenth day). Every single day of the year had a name. Every quintidi was named after an animal, every decadi after an agricultural appliance, and every other day after a plant.
Now that that's all done and dusted, VIVE LA REVOLUTION!
I just used a normal vanilla cupcake recipe, which you can find here, and added red food colouring for my base cake. I decided to model my cakes on the French Tricolore flag: red cakes, white icing, and blue sprinkles. Let's have a looksies as to how that turned out...
This was my first time piping and, as you can see, it was an absolute disaster. I used a piping bag and royal icing, both of which were of a very good quality. I'm afraid I have to blame this one on my lack of skills. Oh well, this certainly shan't be the last time I try piping. As they say, practice makes perfect!
Last but not least, I topped them off with some blue sprinkles. These cakes were relatively quick and (piping disaster aside) easy to decorate. As if to make up for the appalling decoration, they tasted pretty damn good. I just hope that Robespierre is proud of me!
Quite a short one today, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Please feel more than free to laugh at my expense, a few tears have been shed over piping, I can promise you. I really appreciate any comments, critiques, suggestions or recommendations as to what you'd like to see me have a go at another time. Back to recipes from history now! It's a fairly modern creation I've gone to, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I've stuck with the red colour...
See you soon!
Eleanor
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