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Can you imagine Christmas without the signature plum cake? What a blasphemy, right? Having spent 14 years in a convent school, Christmas holds a special place in my heart. And to ring in the celebrations, I have to grab a cake as soon as they hit the market. These aren’t cakes layered with unnecessary cream, which means there is no added pressure to consume it within a day or two. Instead, these are cakes that would easily last a week, even if you don’t put them in your refrigerator. Seeing the ubiquitousness of the cake, it is often hard to believe that ‘Christmas cakes’ weren’t always associated with Christmas. Before this, English people would make plum porridge which was relished on Christmas eve, after the month of lent. The porridge would comprise oats, plums and raisins and would be a gooey mixture. Soon, people started adding wheat and eggs to the mix, and the plum porridge gave way to plum cakes. These cakes may or may not be dressed with Marzipan, the sweet white icing, but most of them are decorated with Xmas motifs like holly flower, Santa Claus, reindeers etc.
Christmas Cakes Around The World
Dry fruits such as currants and raisins are often soaked in brandy, rum, or whiskey before adding them to a Traditional English cake batter. Thus, the Scottish cake or Whiskey Dundee has the prominent flavour of Scottish Whiskey. In Yorkshire, there is another popular tradition of eating fruit cake with cheese. In Japan, the Christmas cakes are regular sponge cakes with frosting, whereas in the Philippines, people celebrate Christmas eve with bright yellow pound cake.
What Is The Cake Mixing Ritual
There are many types of cakes peculiar to Christmas celebrations across the world. You would be surprised to know that Christmas cakes are so popular, a specific ‘cake mixing’ ritual takes place almost a month before Christmas. It is celebrated on a grand scale across many parts of the world to ring in the festivities. They gather together and mix nuts, dried fruits, grains and spices with premium quality rum, whiskey or other alcoholic beverages. The joyful tradition also celebrates the harvest season.
“In olden times, a lot of dry fruits and nuts were harvested during the autumn season and were used in the preparation of traditional Christmas fruit cakes. They used to store the mix for the coming year with a hope of another fulfilling and abundant year. Later, this ceremony became a family affair where everyone got together and soaked the harvested fruits in wine or rum which are further dried and stored.” says chef and F&B director of Crowne Plaza Okhla, New Delhi.
The soaked fruits are stored in airtight jars and containers for 7-8 weeks and used in cakes which boosts the flavour of the cake.
Several F&B properties in the capital have started with their cake mixing ceremonies. In Crowne Plaza Okhla, the celebrations via the poolside are decked with twinkling lights and many glittering props. In The Imperial Janpath, Executive Chef Prem Kumar Pogakula along with his team and guests from Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre Delhi, went all festive on a bright and sunny afternoon with mixing varieties of candied fruits, fruit peels, assorted nuts, juices and spirits like cognac, rum and red wine. All of these soaked fruits were blended for an exotic dough preparation.
Cake Mixing at the Imperial, Janpath
The Hyatt Regency, Delhi, also celebrated cake mixing on 17th November. A delightful festive menu also followed the gala evening.
