Professor Butter Beard and the “Mold Gold Cape”
“When I was young, I told a tale of buried gold, and men from leagues around dug in the woods. I dug myself. But why? I thought the tale of treasure might be true.” – James Thurber, “The 13 Clocks”
Buried treasure makes a great story. “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson. “Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” by Robin Sloan. “Masquerade” by Kit Williams. Or, “The Gold Bug” by Edgar Allan Poe. Jane Alexander writes, “Like a good whodunnit, a treasure-hunt story can be the ultimate page-turner, delivering thrills, perhaps danger, but often with a sense that things will work out happily in the end.” But do they?
The treasure story of the “Mold Gold Cape” begins in 1833, when Welsh workmen from the town of Mold had been sent to quarry stone in a field known as Bryn-yr-Ellyllon, which translates as the Fairies’ Hill or the Goblins’ Hill. The stonebreakers had grown up hearing stories of a ghostly boy, clad in gold, appearing on the hill in the moonlight. As the workmen dug into a large mound, they uncovered a stone-lined grave. In it were hundreds of amber beads, several bronze fragments and the remains of a skeleton. And wrapped around the skeleton was a mysterious crushed object – a large and finely decorated broken sheet of pure gold.
The object was determined to be a gold cape, or more accurately, a short golden poncho, designed to fit over the shoulders of a human being. Made from a single sheet of astonishingly thin gold, it had been worked from the inside and punched out so that the overall effect is of strings of beads, carefully spaced and graduated, running from one shoulder to the other and going all the way around the body.
The workmen, putting aside all thoughts of ghosts and curses, eagerly shared chunks of the gold sheet, with the tenant farmer taking the largest pieces. This could have easily ended the story. But history must thank the curiosity of the local vicar, Reverend C.B. Clough, who wrote an account of the treasure that aroused the interest of the Society of Antiquaries, hundreds of miles away in London.
Representatives of the British Museum showed up in Mold, and purchased the largest piece of gold sheet from the surprised tenant farmer. It took another hundred years for the British Museum to gather together enough of the remaining fragments to begin a complete reconstruction of the divided treasure. Neil MacGregor writes, “It was like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, and solving it took nothing less that the relearning of ancient gold-working techniques that had been lost for millennia.”
But who originally wore this shimmering cape of gold? The burial site and the object itself provide a few clues. The Mold burial was dated to roughly 1900-1600 BCE – the newly identified Bronze Age (around 4,000 years ago). Scholars believe the cape probably had a lining, perhaps of leather, which covered the chest and the shoulder of the wearer. The design would have so restricted the movement of the wearer’s arms and shoulders that it was probably worn only rarely – perhaps for ceremonial occasions. And, the cape is too small for a mighty Welsh warrior, leading scholars to believe it would only fit a slim, small person – a woman, or perhaps more likely, a teenager.
MacGregor writes that in many societies in the past, a teenager could be a parent, a full adult, a leader. So, the cape may have been worn by a young person who already held considerable power within the community. Unfortunately, the missing key, the skeleton that was found inside the cape, was thrown away by the astonished Welsh stonebreakers, as it, in their minds had no financial value. Might this be the ghostly boy, clad in gold, guarding the hillside forever, challenging us with his power and pride?
All this talk of gold and treasure inspired me to create a golden peanut butter poundcake filled with a trove of roasted peanuts and cider-soaked golden raisins. It wears a shimmering cape of caramelized bananas, rich and sweet and satisfying. Maybe this is the story’s happy ending. All it needs is a cup of tea and a map.
Caramelized Banana and Peanut Butter Pound Cakes
Three loaf cakes
Fruit layer:
6 ripe bananas
3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
Caramel layer:
2 cups dark brown sugar
8 Tbsp (one stick) unsalted butter
2 Tbsp water
Cake layer:
1 cup toasted and cooled chopped peanuts
1 cup golden raisins (soaked overnight, preferably in apple cider)
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup nut flour (I prefer hazelnut for this recipe)
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
3 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 cups plain Greek yoghurt
1 cup buttermilk
¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla paste
1 cup peanut butter (unsweetened preferably)
1) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line three loaf pans fully with parchment paper.
2) Gently toast the peanuts in the oven or in a non-stick skillet and set aside to cool.
3) Sprinkle 1 Tbsp brown sugar in the bottom of each loaf pan. Slice the bananas into ½” rounds and divide them between the two loaf pans.
4) In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the caramel ingredient and bring to a light bowl, whisking until absolutely smooth. Then pour evenly over the three pans of bananas.
5) In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, yoghurt, buttermilk, vanilla paste and oil.
6) In a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, stir together the two flours, baking soda, salt, and grated nutmeg. Then stir in the sugar. Add the peanut butter and mix on low until the butter is incorporated and the mixture takes on a sandy quality.
7) Keep the mixer on low and pour in the egg mixture. Turn the mixer to medium speed and mix until you have a smooth batter – about two minutes. Fold in the peanuts and drained golden raisins.
8) Divide the batter between the three pans and smooth the top.
9) Bake for 60-70 minutes until the cake is set and a wooden skewer comes out clean. Remove the cakes and let cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Invert the cakes onto a parchment-lined sheet and remove the pans and parchment. Let the cakes cool to room temperature before slicing and serving.
