Christmas Cake | Authentic Fruit Cake

It’s been a roller-coaster of a year, with lives thrown into disarray due to the pandemic. And as we come closer to the end of the year, there’s just one thing on my mind. Christmas!! This year sadly I won’t be travelling back to Mangalore but, I’m looking forward to a white christmas in Germany. Mercury has already begun to drop rapidly and I’m expecting to see Munich in a white blanket soon. What better way to prepare for this beautiful time of the year than baking a Christmas Cake?

The Cake

The Christmas Cake / Fruit Cake are terms used interchangeably for a rich-moist sweet-spiced cake full of alcohol (Brandy/Cognac/Whiskey) soaked fruits like rasins, currants, sultanas and cherries. Traditionally this cake is made atleast 6 weeks before Christmas and fed regularly with the alcohol and cut on Christmas eve.

The History of the Christmas Cake

This delightful cake which we know now is an English tradition which originated as a humble Plum Porridge which was eaten on Christmas Eve after a day of fasting. As time passed, dry fruits, spices and honey were added to the porridge and it soon came to be known as the Christmas Pudding. Although it is an English tradition, the fruit cake traces its roots back to Ancient Rome, almost 2000 years back in time.

As the pudding evolved over time, by the 16th century oatmeal was replaced with butter, flour and eggs. These ingredients helped to hold the mixture together, which had evolved into a boiled plum cake.

Richer families with ovens at their disposal began making Marzipan fruit cakes for Easter and for Christmas, a similar cake with seasonal dry fruits and a spice blend was baked. The spice blend represented the exotic spices from the east, brought by the three wise men. This cake was originally eaten not during Christmas but on the Twelfth night or Epiphany and hence was known as the Twelfth night cake.

However with the gradual decline in the popularity of the twelfth night and subsequent increase in Christmas festivities around the 1830’s, the cake was eaten around Christmas Day. In fact during Victorian times, it was considered unlucky to cut the cake before dawn on Christmas Eve.

The Recipe

As a Mangalorean I have always enjoyed the Plum Cake which we get back home. It was a known fact that it was an offspring of the British influence in India. And I always wondered, how the original Christmas Cake would be. Once I moved to Germany, I didn’t have to look too far.

During my time in Stuttgart, my search for a church which celebrates Sunday Mass in English, led me to St. Maria’s in the heart of the city. I have a lot of fond memories of that place. Made quite a few friends there which included Diya and Daryl – my family away from home, who backed me and played a major role in shaping my culinary journey and of course Rachel Emmerson, with whom I used to team up for the choir.

Rachel is gifted with a beautiful voice but she is also an amazing baker and I’ve had the privilege of enjoying some of her delightful bakes during the community gatherings. So it is no surprise that when I was looking for an authentic Christmas Cake, her name came to mind and I reached out to her for the insights and know-how of this cake.

Rachel was born in the UK in Ashington, Northumberland, in a family of 12 children. She grew up in the UK and moved to Germany just after the start of this millennium. The baking bug hit her here in Deutschland when, no surprises for guessing this, she was faced with the need of having a cake for Christmas to keep the family tradition alive.

When I approached her for information about the Christmas Cake, she readily shared her family recipe which she has developed from memory based on what her mum used to bake. I am ever grateful to her for sharing this recipe. She doesn’t have a digital presence yet to showcase her bakes, but once she does, I will update it here and you can show her some love for sharing this recipe with us.

Traditionally there are two types of Christmas cakes, the classic fruit cake layered with marzipan and icing and the Scottish Dundee which is lighter and contains lesser fruit and uses whiskey, candied peel and decorated with almonds.

Rachel’s recipe inclines more towards the Scottish Dundee, minus the candied peel and the nuts. Rachel’s mom was Scottish and maybe that’s why the recipe is inclined towards the Dundee?

Baking the Cake

Although the basic process remains the same as that of any other cake, do remember that this cake takes over 4 hours to bake. Also, when soaking the fruit in the alcohol, do remember to prep the other ingredients too. This is necessary to ensure, all the flavours infuse well.

Please note that, this cake recipe doesn’t make use of any baking powder. The rise is provided solely by the eggs. So make sure you beat them well. I took it a notch further by separting the eggs and beating the whites to soft peaks and folding them into the mixture towards the end.

Also, since this cake is baked for a longtime, to prevent burning on the outside, line the tin with a double layer of parchment paper and then cover the tin with a newspaper and place it on a double layer of newspaper while baking. Paper is a bad conductor of heat and hence it prevents the exterior of the cake from getting burnt. However do exercise caution using newspaper in a gas oven. Also do note that I have used a 10″ cake tin. This recipe works best in an 8″ or 9″ tin.

If you cannot source the Mixed Spice at your local store, you can very easily make your own at home using this Recipe

Feed the cake on a regular basis and keep it air-tight. If this is done religiously and regualrly, you can preserve this cake upto a year too.

How to cut a Round Cake

The general tendency is to slice a round cake into triangles. But since this cake is quite heavy, it got me wondering whether a triangular slice would be a bit too much for an individual to enjoy. Started looking around for answers and hit upon this article which says that the logical way of cutting a Christmas Cake and preserving it longer is by cutting it into straight slices and not triangles.

Also, please use a serrated knife and a damp cloth. After every cut, wipe the crumbs off the serrated knife. This ensures clean cuts every time.

Christmas Cake

Jason Alfred Castelino @ www.oneplateplease.com

A delightful rich-moist, sweet-spiced British Fruit Cake full of alcohol soaked mixed dry-fruits, traditionally baked atleast 6 weeks before Christmas

5 from 7 votes

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 4 hours hrs

Total Time 4 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine English Cuisine, Scottish Cuisine

Servings 1 8″ cake

Equipment

• 8" Cake Tin
• Parchment paper
• Kitchen string
• Newspapers

Ingredients

  

For Soaking:

• 200 gms Raisins
• 200 gms Sultanas
• 200 gms Currants
• 100 gms Cherries
• 100 gms Dates
• 140 ml Brandy/ Cognac/ Whiskey

For the Flour-mix

• 225 gms All purpose flour
• 1 tsp Mixed Spice powder
• 1 tsp Cocoa powder (I used dutch processed cocoa powder)
• ½ tsp Cinnamon powder
• ½ tsp Nutmeg powder

For the Butter-Sugar mix:

• 175 gms Butter (unsalted)
• 175 gms Brown Sugar (soft)
• 1 tsp Lemon rind
• 1 tsp Orange rind
• 1 tbsp Black Treacle

Other ingredients for the Cake-batter:

• 4 Eggs, separated (medium)
• 1 tbsp Milk

Instructions

 

Preword:

• The ingredients for this cake need to be prepped the night before to allow the flavours to infuse well. Please read all the instructions carefully
• As with all cake recipes, the ingredients need to be at room temperature, before you begin making the batter
• Happy Baking!

Soaking the fruits:

• Soak the raisins, sultanas, currants in a bowl of water for 30 mins
• Soak the cherries separately in another bowl of water for 30 mins
• Similarly, soak the dates too. However, you can skip this step if the dates are moist
• After 30 mins, drain out all the water using a sieve. Chop the cherries into halves or quarters and similarly chop the dates too. Place all the fruits in a large enough bowl or an air-tight container
• Add the alcohol (I used whiskey) to the bowl and give it a good mix.
• Cover the bowl with cling-film and set aside

Preparing the Flour-mix:

• Sieve the all purpose flour along with the mixed spice, cocoa powder, cinnamon and nutmeg
• Mix well and place in an air-tight container

Preparing the Butter-Sugar mix:

• Place the butter along with the brown sugar, lemon and orange rind in an air-tight container

Preparing the Cake batter and Baking instructions:

• Preheat the oven (Top & Bottom heat) to 150°C
• Line an 8 inch Cake tin with a double layer of parchment paper and keep it ready
• In a large enough mixing bowl, take the butter-sugar mix along with the black treacle and beat it with a hand-mixer/stand mixer on medium speed until light and smooth
• Add an egg yolk and beat on low speed till well combined
• Follow this with a tbsp of the Flour mix and beat on low speed till well combined
• Repeat this step until all the yolks have been added. Reserve the remaining flour-mix for later
• Dust the soaked fruit with half cup of the flour mix and add the fruits to the mixing bowl and gently combine everything using a spatula
• Add the remaining flour and the milk and fold with a spatula until all the flour has been well combined
• In a clean steel bowl, beat the egg whites to the soft peak stage
• Add these to the batter and fold in until well combined
• Transfer the batter to the prepared cake tin and tap the tin several times on thework-surface to settle the batter in the tin. Make a slight well in the center
• Cover the cake tin and wrap the outside of the tin with a newspaper and tie it down using a kitchen string (see notes)
• Place in the bottom rack of the oven over a double layer of newspapers (exercise caution if using a gas oven) and bake at 150°C for 30 mins
• At the end of 30 mins, lower the temperature to 110°C and bake for another 3½ hours
• At the end of this baking time, insert a toothpick into the cake and check if it comes out clean. If it doesn't, then continue baking and checking in intervals of 10-15 mins until the toothpick comes out clean
• Take the cake tin out of the oven and allow it to cool completely

Feeding and Storing the cake:

• Once the cake has cooled completely, using a tooth-pick pierce the cake at regular intervals
• Feed the cake with 1 tbsp of the alcohol which was used for baking the cake
• After a few hours, take it out of the tin but leave it in the parchment paper it was baked in
• Cover the cake completely with parchment paper, followed with two layers of aluminium foil
• Place it in an air-tight container and store in a cool-dry place, away from strong smells
• Feed the cake once a week and keep it air-tight

Serving suggestions:

• Cut the cake on Christmas Eve, as shown in the images above, to ensure effective storing of the cake for the coming days
• Enjoy the cake on its own!
• Alternately you can enjoy a slice of the cake with a piece of hard cheese like Cheddar, Lancaster or Wensleydale and a Granny Smith's Apple, making it a meal in itself

Keyword Christmas Cake, Fruit Cake, Scottish Dundee