The Spirit Of Christmas Cake

An annual baking tradition that heralded the season of cheer and year-end magic

- Priti David

In our family, Christmas cake brought joy long before it was unwrapped at Christmas time to become the symbol of good tidings and cheer to all men. This grand annual production called for planning months ahead and everybody was expected to pitch in and do their bit for family honour. As young as eight years old, I remember sitting on upturned dalda tins in the dingy bakery and feeling mighty important as I wrote out our family name on strips of paper to be carefully placed atop the wobbling batter so that our cakes would not get mixed up in the oven.

At the beginning of November, families would lean across the pews in church and whisper the question: ‘How many kilos of cake this Christmas?’ Those expecting large contingents of guests would hazard five kilos, which, wait a moment, meant five kilos each of flour, fruit, unsalted butter and ghee and then at least two-and a-half to three kilos of dry fruits and nuts—resulting in a gargantuan number of cakes for family and friends.

In keeping with the spirit of the season, the recipe for a Christmas cake is most forgiving. The Indian version is actually a close cousin of British plum pudding also served at Christmas time. Indian Christians add a generous dose of hot spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and shahi zeera (royal cumin seeds); roasted dry and then ground and added, also referred to as ‘cake masala’.