November 30, 2018

Decorated Christmas Cake

Sometimes I think I won’t make a traditional Christmas Cake, but then I usually get a big attack of the guilts and decide Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without it. Even though I know my son Joseph probably won’t even taste it, I have this need to create ‘food memories’ for when my children are older and reminisce over childhood Christmases. (Well that’s my hope anyway). The fact that I am divorced means my children have two Christmas celebrations, one with their father and one with me. I feel this strong sense of responsibility to continue the baking traditions of my mother and to also prepare a more ‘British’ Christmas lunch, knowing they’ll be getting the Italian traditions anyway. I usually compromise though and always make the very traditional Tortellini in Brodo to start and then we’ll have a traditional roast, sometimes pork, more recently we have been having Turkey.

I always make Fruit Mince Pies but because I don’t do a Christmas Pudding I feel there is no excuse not to make a Christmas Cake. My mother would make it all, mince pies, pudding, Christmas Cake, Shortbread and almond bread. My childhood Christmases were made magical by 3 people. Firstly my mother and her cooking and the flair she had for entertaining. Secondly, my father and the Christmas Tree selection every year. My father would go to the ‘Christmas Tree Farm’, where he would choose a tree that was then chopped down. Every year my father managed to choose a tree that was way too big, and every year he would swear as he dragged it into the house. I loved the smell of the pine needles that permeated the house as soon as it crossed the threshold. Our Christmas Tree was without doubt the tallest in the street. Our house had a mezzanine level, so imagine the ceiling being two storeys high… so yes.. our tree was always huge. Having said that, my Daddy still managed to always have to chop off a bit at the base to make it a little shorter to allow it to stand upright inside. The third person that made Christmas magical was my English grandmother Doreen. She was responsible every year for untangling the Christmas tree lights, and without her, we wouldn’t be able to start to decorate the tree. I have so much nostalgia for these childhood moments and it is these moments – the tree, the food, the Christmas carols, Christmas Eve dinner with Christmas crackers – that I can easily say are among the happiest moments of my life.

I suppose I better say 4 people and include my twin sister Lisa. I am starting to giggle as I remember how every Christmas Eve we would sneak out and open one present each. We’d then expertly close it up and then feign our surprise and joy on Christmas morning. Lisa always had a sneaky way of guessing what I had bought her for Christmas too…. well not exactly guessing as going through my wallet and looking for receipts was one way she discovered her present from me. Lisa on the other hand would buy me things she’d like… and not necessarily something I’d like. The best present though from my sister would have to be the year she bought me a bra that she loved…. in HER size…. So it really is the thought that counts, because she ‘thought’ very carefully about how that present would end up as hers.

So, back to Christmas Cake. My mother’s recipe is double this recipe and also requires six hours in the oven. It really requires the love and care of at least six weeks (better 8) of brandy feeding, and if I am running too late to do her recipe any justice, or if I want an extra, but quicker recipe, this is a great alternative. I sometimes change the fruit a little to make it a bit more interesting and original. The weight of the fruit stays the same, but I decided to use dried figs, cranberries, dates and visciole (which are a type of sour cherry), to change the normal raisin/sultana/currant combination.

My mother would serve Christmas cake with the top decorated with almonds and glacè cherries. This cake is decorated in a more traditional fashion and so I don’t add these on the surface of the cake before baking it. In The United Kingdom, it is traditional to cover a Christmas fruit cake (after it’s been fed with brandy for weeks) with a layer of marzipan, and then a layer of fondant. I have omitted the marzipan layer and used a thin layer of brandy buttercream instead. The cake is then covered with fondant (sugarpaste) and Christmas decorations made by Mamì. This cake can be eaten the week you make it. It won’t be as compact as a cake made and fed with Brandy for 3 months, but it is rich with flavour and not at all dry. The Brandy Buttercream is a nice accompaniment, but if you are not intending covering your cake in fondant, I would suggest serving this cake with brandy butter.

This is a recipe made in collaboration with Mamì.