Merry Christmas! The phrase itself reminds us of the old man with his white beard, dressed in red with a red and white-bordered cap carrying a large bag full of gifts. Yes, the Santa
Sub-Editor
Clause! Christmas is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. Christmas is celebrated to observe the birthday of Lord Jesus Christ. The Christmas celebration includes exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending the Church, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. But what brings the essence of Jesus’s birthday is obviously the ‘Cake’.
In the chilled winter of December with gifts from different ‘Secret Santas’, lighting streets and beautifully decorated Christmas trees, nothing can be more captivating than the Christmas cakes. Cakes have always fascinated people of every age. The various flavored cakes with mouth-watering toppings attract everyone. The flavors of a good cake are a labor of love. Throughout December, bakers and pastry chefs are engaged in making the best cake.
Christmas cake is an English tradition that began as plum porridge. People ate the porridge on Christmas Eve, using it to line their stomachs after a day of fasting. Soon dried fruit, spices and honey were added to the porridge mixture, and eventually, it turned into Christmas pudding. In the 16th century, oatmeal was removed from the original recipe, and butter, wheat flour, and eggs were added. These ingredients helped to hold the mixture together, resulting in a boiled plum cake. Richer families with ovens began making fruit cakes with marzipan, an almond sugar paste, for Easter. For Christmas, they made a similar cake using seasonal dried fruit and spices. The spices represented the exotic eastern spices brought by the Wise Men. This cake later was known as ‘Christmas cake’.
An interesting aspect of Christmas cakes is that, in this global village like customs and traditions, cakes also differ in different countries. Let’s have a look. Starting with India, Christmas cakes are usually fruit cakes or plum cakes. However, they come in many variants.
The United Kingdom is famous for its “chocolate log”, which is a Swiss roll that is coated with ample amounts of chocolate. One cannot miss out on plum cakes when Christmas is around the corner. The plum cake is said to have its origin in Medieval England where a popular tradition among people was to observe a period of fasting and self-restraint from the indulgence of any sort, until Christmas. On Christmas Eve, they would consume porridge made from oats, spices, honey, and dried fruits — it is the plum cake as we know it, today.
In Japan, there are light sponge cakes with whipped cream piled on them. They are decorated with strawberries and Christmas chocolates are used as toppings.
A simple trick to have a delicious trick is that many make them in November, keeping the cake upside down in an airtight container. A small amount of brandy, sherry or whiskey is poured into holes in the cake every week until Christmas. This process is called ‘feeding’ of the cake.
Christmas and Cakes are synonymous with each other. As the day cannot be completed without the chirping of birds, Christmas remains incomplete without Cakes.
