Making cake... and eating it

I’m always surprised to hear people say that they don’t like fruitcake. I’ve even found sites on the web that tell you how to get rid of your unwanted (fruit) Christmas cake that ‘nobody wants or eats’! Really? I suppose my up-bringing was very English and fairly traditional – Christmas wasn’t Christmas without a proper (preferably marzipanned and iced) Christmas fruit cake.

Many years ago, a work colleague gave me his wife’s ‘boiled fruit cake’ recipe. It was a wonderfully moist rich cake, eminently suitable for Christmas. And very easy to make; no beating of butter and sugar, no sifting of flour etc. I used this recipe for many Christmases, and I used it for my children’s christening cakes. But a couple of weeks ago I looked everywhere and could not find it. I started asking friends if they had a recipe for me to try, and two of them did – both are boiled fruit cakes, so last weekend I tried the first one. This weekend we ate most of it (with a little help from visitors). It was pretty good, though I felt it needed more fruit; in fairness, the dried fruit I used had been in the cupboard for a while so maybe it wasn’t as ‘plump’ as it should have been. Next weekend I’ll have to try the other recipe. And hope the cake lasts, uncut, until Christmas.

I’ve been doing a bit of research on the web to try and find out how and why Christmas cake evolved. I do like to know the ‘why’ of things. I know that the spices are supposed to represent the Wise Men from the East, bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. In the early years, the fruit used must have been ‘sun-dried’ (a process used as early as 6000BC). The spices and fruit would have been imported and very expensive.

Christmas (fruit) cake is a particularly English tradition that has evolved over the years. It started out as plum porridge which was eaten on Christmas Eve, after a day of religious fasting, before attending midnight church services. Wealthier people started to add dried fruits, spices and honey to the mix, and this is the basis of today’s Christmas pudding.

By the 16th century, the oatmeal in the porridge recipe was replaced with wheat flour, eggs and butter and people who had ovens then baked the pudding, instead of boiling it – ta-da, Christmas cake. In the late 1700s Carollers were offered slices of this cake as ‘payment’ for their singing, and around the same time laws were put in place to say that ‘plum cake’(fruit cake) could only be eaten at Christmas, Easter, weddings, christenings and funerals!

People tend to make Christmas cakes in November, and ‘feed’ them with brandy each week up until Christmas. The high sugar content of the fruit preserves the cake, while the brandy keeps it moist.

So now I see the ‘how’, but I still don’t understand the ‘why’.

Cheesecake

Sunday was my husband’s birthday, so we had a buffet lunch for 12. Here is the dessert – definitely only an occasional treat! It keeps well in the fridge, and I have even frozen it for a short time – not that there is usually any left to freeze.

Serves 12

Ingredients
1 packet Tennis biscuits
80gms butter
3 large eggs
150gms caster sugar
2 Tblsp lemon juice
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla essence
20mls gelatin powder/granules
100mls cold water
125ml cream
250gms fat free smooth cottage cheese

Method
Spray a 19cm (diameter) spring form pan – or you can use a pyrex dish if you prefer.
Line the bottom of the spring form pan with baking paper.

Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs.
Melt the butter.
Combine the crumbs and butter and press into the base of the pan (or dish).
Set aside.

Put the gelatin to soften in the cold water.
Separate the eggs.
Put the egg yolks, lemon juice and rind in the top of a double boiler along with half the sugar and the vanilla essence. (Using a double boiler or a bowl over simmering water prevents the yolks from cooking too fast and becoming scrambled egg!)
Heat while whisking until the mixture thickens slightly.
Add the gelatin and keep whisking until it dissolves completely.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Beat the egg whites until thick and peaky, adding the remaining sugar a little at a time.
Whip the cream until thick.
Stir the cottage cheese into the cooled egg yolk mixture.

Gently fold the egg yolk/cheese into the whites, then fold in the cream.
Pour onto the biscuit base and allow to set in the fridge (about 3 hours).
Once set, remove from the spring form pan and carefully remove the baking paper.
Slide onto a serving plate and top with the fruit of your choice.

If you use a pyrex dish you can serve from there directly. The first slice is a bit difficult to get out, but after that it’s fine.
I know, using fat free cottage cheese is a bit silly, what with all the saturated fats in the butter and cream! But we save calories where we can, don't we?

Merry Christmas!

Christmas lunch in the Southern Hemishere looks like this:

and like this:

and, best of all... like this!!! He is sooooooo special!

A perfect day.

The only thing missing... my beautiful, precious grand-daughters in England.

Miss you, my darlings.
Merry Christmas.