Ho Ho Ho! It’s time for Ayah’s Christmas Cake…
It’s Christmas! The season brings back so many memories. Ayah would have been in her element. Preparations at the Muthiah household would have begun almost as soon as Diwali ended. There were kilos of Christmas Cake to make – her favourite recipe, the Fruit Cake adapted from the Ceylon Daily News Cookery book. The best dry fruits had to be sourced, stoned, picked and chopped – anyone who had the (mis)fortune to be in the vicinity, from the security guard to the driver to the cook to the darling daughters, were all roped in to help... And as her trusted large oven was fired up, the smells that wafted through the house as she baked the moist, spiced fruit filled cakes that had enough brandy to knock down the sturdiest of men and the crispy but melt in your mouth Coconut Macaroons were incredible... Aiyah’s many visitors were treated to just a nibble or sometimes a whole cake, as the case may be. Aiyah, with his years of experience, was taste tester in chief, and his perpetual comment – it needs more brandy!
Many have asked us how we got so hooked onto Christmas, albeit the modern version which focused primarily on feasting and gift giving. I think it took the husband and in-laws by surprise to see how involved we were in celebrating it. Blame it on Aiyah and his years in Ceylon, where the festival is celebrated with much more fervour than it was in the ‘80s in Madras. It was after that life changing visit to Ceylon in the early ‘80s, the one that decided my choice of career, that Ayah decided we would celebrate the festival as fervently as Aiyah’s Sri Lankan friends did. Back home, we had no idea how to source a Christmas tree, but the rather innovative couple decided to cut down a sturdy branch of the Ashoka tree from our garden and decorate it with ornaments they had brought back specially from Ceylon.
As we grew up, and Christmas became more popular in Madras, the Ashoka tree gave way to a real Christmas fir that was planted in a pot in our garden and carefully looked after until it was brought in on the eve to be decorated. Every year, despite her hoard of carefully wrapped ornaments that had survived decades of use, Ayah insisted we had to buy at least one new one to keep the collection growing. And so it was no designer tree we had, but a cute little one that would set one’s OCD radar off the scale!
Up went the tree on Christmas eve, and then, of course, Santa had to come down the chimney, or in our case through the windows which were left ajar for him. Any outrageous requests of Santa were met with “Santa only brings things that are good for you, not everything that you ask for”! While the darling daughters tried staying awake every Christmas eve to catch ‘Santa’ in the act, we never managed to... He was too tricky for us... Years later, friends wonder if my kids believe in Santa. Well, they still write him a letter, leave him a cookie and stay awake on Christmas eve to catch Santa in the act! This year’s request from one is for an iPhone and from another is a MacBook Air and from yet another is a Lego set that costs a fortune – of course, Santa will still only bring what’s good for them...
Ayah’s tradition of making the fruit cake for Christmas also stemmed from that eventful trip to Ceylon. What started as one cake to cut for Christmas and one to cut for New Year’s grew to the kilos as more and more friends tasted it and became fans. And, yes, us little ones were allowed the cake too, despite the brandy - Aiyah claimed the brandy cooked off! As if! Anyway, before I have the child welfare police unleashed on me, Aiyah swore a smidgeon of brandy now and again did no child harm, and we did survive to tell the tale!
As its popularity grew, the cake was requested as the must have in goody bags for birthday celebrations and weddings of near and dear ones. Since the numbers ran to the 1000s for these events, Ayah resorted to the good offices of Aiyah’s connections at commercial kitchens to lend her their ovens for a day. And every person on hand was roped in to portion and neatly wrap the individual pieces of cake. And, of course, it goes without saying that the goody bags at the darling daughters’ weddings and Aiyah’s milestone birthdays contained a carefully wrapped precious piece of cake. My brother-in-law claims one of the reasons he fell in love with his mother-in-law (Ayah) was his first taste of her fruit cake, second only to her vengaya kos!
From left to right: The Muthiahs’ rather scraggly but cute Christmas tree (apologies for the bad picture); Cake bon bons for the apprentice’s High School graduation a few years ago; Ayah’s treasured oven that has been neglected over the last few years and has become a storage shelf of sorts!
When the apprentice graduated from High School a few years ago, the kitchen master hosted a huge party for him, occasion for me to visit America again after nearly 20 years. Some gentle hinting by the hostess resulted in me attempting Ayah’s recipe for the first time and as tradition would have it, every person on hand was roped in to wrap the cake into bonbon like pieces. A reasonable success, I would say, but Aiyah’s critique – it needs more Brandy! Some tweaking over the last few years, and I believe I may be closer to Ayah’s version. The busy apprentice is yet to try his hand at the recipe, but is scheduled to make it before the season is over and done with, so watch out for more pictures.
I believe, the first day Ayah made the cake, many years ago, she realized she was sitting on a pile of egg whites as the rich cake uses a looooot more yolks than whites. And so was born another Christmas staple – Coconut Macaroons, crisp, light as air biscuits with a slightly chewy centre, made with desiccated coconuts. While she was labouring over the cake, in the days before hand mixers and stand mixers, the darling daughters’ job was to mix the batter for the macaroons, portion the cookies and send them off to the oven. Simple as the job was at the time, for the life of me, I cannot remember the recipe, and of course, the Chef Extraordinaire has not written it down! Internet research, as with the fudge recipe, hasn’t been of much help, and time is not my friend, so those of you who have requested the recipe will have to wait until we perfect it, which I hope will be soon...
Christmas Roast dinner at the Muthiah’s was another family tradition, but that’s a recipe for another day. In the meanwhile, here is Ayah’s recipe for her Ceylon Christmas Fruit Cake that we hope will kindle your own traditions. And before I forget, I have been asked to make a special mention of the cake decorations and the cookie plate in the cover picture - they have been made by my younger daughter who wanted to feature in the blog.
Merrrry Christmas from all of us at Ayah’s Kitchen! We hope the season brings you much joy.
Notes:
1. The ingredient list can be quite daunting to a new baker. Do not worry, most of the ingredients can be found at your local bake store or online:
- While chow chow and pumpkin preserves are easy to find in Sri Lanka, finding them anywhere else is impossible. We substitute with candied fruits (papaya) which is also known in India as tutti fruiti.
- You can find ginger preserves in your local bakestore or online. Don't get the flat dried ones - the moist, candied ginger is better for the cake (see picture)
- Rose water is readily available in India and can be found in your local Indian store - just remember to ask for cooking rose water (as opposed to the one used for prayers).
- There are two types of semolina available in stores - get the fine one if you can as it gives a smoother texture.
- In an ode to Aiyah, I nearly doubled the amount of alcohol in the recipe - feel free to keep it as is in the recipe. I also feed the cake with brandy (see recipe for details). Other alcohols that can be used to replace the Brandy are Rum, and possibly Madeira. While I do suggest using orange juice for an alcohol-free version of the cake, I would really not recommend it as the success of the cake lies in the flavour of the brandy. If you do want to try the non-alcoholic version, go for it and let us know how it turns out.
2. The destemming, pitting and chopping of the fruits can be quite tedious and time consuming. Ayah had all hands on deck and it still took her a week or so to get it done for the 10 kilos it baked. I would suggest having this done at least the day before you are making the cake.
3. Most Christmas cakes call for soaking of the fruits in the alcohol for months on end. This one doesn't and still has quite the kick. However, if you would like, you could soak the fruits (leave out the cashew nuts) for a day or so before using them.
4. The traditional Sri Lankan fruit cake is topped with marzipan, however, none of us are fans of it on the cake and so skip that step.
5. This recipe makes about 1 kg of cake, I made 2.5 kg this year, Ayah made about 10 kg. So, feel free to scale up the cake.
6. The alcohol in the cake prevents moulding and so it can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for at least a month. Aiyah's friends used to freeze it for as long as a year.
Ingredients:
Fruits and Nuts:
100 gm raisins
100 gm sultanas (substitute with raisins if unavailable)
50 gm dried black currants
50 gm candied peel
50 gm candied cherries (glacé cherries without syrup)
50 gm ginger preserve
50 gm chow chow preserve (candied fruits / tutti frutti in different colours)
50 gm pumpkin preserve (substitute with candied fruits if unavailable)
50 gm cashewnuts
Dry Ingredients:
12 ½ gm plain flour (plus some for dusting on the cake tin)
5 egg yolks
3 egg whites (make sure there is not even a smidgen of yolk in this as it needs to be whisked to soft peaks)
200 gm soft sugar (caster sugar or powdered granulated sugar)
100 gm unsalted butter, cut into cubes (plus about a tablespoon for greasing the cake tin)
100 gm fine semolina (rava / sooji)
1/8 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/16 teaspoon powdered cloves
1/16 teaspoon grated nutmeg (or nutmeg powder)
Wet Ingredients:
¼ tablespoon vanilla essence
¼ tablespoon almond essence
¼ cup good quality brandy or cognac (replace with orange juice for an alcohol-free cake)
¼ cup rosewater
¼ cup honey
Method:
1. Pick the stems of the raisins, sultanas and currants and remove seeds if any. Chop the raisins and sultanas.
100 gm raisins
100 gm sultanas
50 gm dried black currants
2. Chop the candied peels, preserved fruits, ginger preserve and cashewnuts. This has to be done at least the previous night. If you’d like, you can marinate the fruits (not the cashew) in the brandy at this stage - Ayah didn’t.
50 gm candied peel
50 gm candied cherries (glacé cherries without syrup)
50 gm ginger preserve
50 gm chow chow preserve (candied fruits in different colours)
50 gm pumpkin preserve (substitute with candied fruits if not available)
50 gm cashewnuts
Note: The fruits and nuts have to be chopped really fine to ensure that melt in your mouth texture. Laborious, but worth it.
4. Mix the fruits and nuts with the plain flour and set aside.
12 ½ gm plain flour
3. Separate the egg yolks and whites and set aside. Be careful not to get any yolks in the white or it will not whisk into stiff peaks. Reserve 2 of the whites to use for an egg white omelette or for coconut macaroons (recipe coming soon).
5 egg yolks
3 egg whites (make sure there is not even a smidgen of yolk in this as it needs to be whisked to soft peaks)
4. Cream the butter and sugar until white and fluffy – you can use your stand mixer for this. If you don’t have a stand mixer, a hand mixer will do, but make sure you pick a vessel / bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients. I made 2.5 kilos of cake, so I used the bottom of my idli steamer. This will take about 20 - 25 minutes if using a hand mixer.
200 gm soft sugar (caster sugar or powdered granulated sugar)
100 gm unsalted butter, cut into cubes
7. Add the egg yolks, one at a time to the butter sugar mixture, beating well after each addition. Beat until you get a consistency where if you pour with a spatula, the batter will make a ribbon.
8. Add in the semolina in batches and mix in gradually.
100 gm fine semolina (rava / sooji)
9. Next fold in the chopped fruit, nut and flour mixture, a bit at a time. Also add in the spices and the essences.
1/8 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/16 teaspoon powdered cloves
1/16 teaspoon grated nutmeg (or nutmeg powder)
¼ tablespoon vanilla essence
¼ tablespoon almond essence
10. Finally add in the brandy, rose water and honey and mix in (if you’ve soaked the fruits overnight in brandy, the brandy would have already been added in with the fruits). Set this cake mixture aside.
¼ cup good quality brandy or cognac
¼ cup rosewater
¼ cup honey
11. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks (if you turn the bowl over, it should not drop) – you can do this with your hand / stand cake mixer or get an arm work out with your whisk.
12. Split the beaten egg whites into three parts. Fold in the first part gently into the cake mixture that you have set aside. Do not mix vigorously, else you will end up with a hard cake. So don’t use the mixer - do this by hand. Once it is almost fully folded in, repeat for the second and third parts.
14. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350F).
15. Line a 9 inch cake tin with baking paper (grease paper) – I usually butter the baking paper as well, dust with some flour and shake off the excess flour.
16. Transfer the cake batter to the cake tin. Do not fill more than 3/4th of the tin. Bake in a 160 – 180 C oven (320 – 350F) for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. If the cake begins to brown too much without cooking, cover the tin with the aluminum foil and continue baking until it’s ready. Prick the centre of the cake with a tooth pick to see if it’s done – it is done if it comes out completely clean.
17. Once ready, take it out of the oven, let it cool and then remove from the tin.
18. Optional: If you’d like a stronger alcohol flavour, feed the cake with alcohol every day. Poke holes on the top of the cake, use a brush and baste with brandy every day and night before you actually are ready to cut it. If you have the time, after a few days, turn the cake over and do the same for the bottom of the cake. How often you do it and for how long depends on how much time you have, but doing this twice a day for at least 2-3 days enhances the flavour.
Makes: 1 kg cake
Laborious but once the fruits and nuts are all picked and chopped, it's Easy.
Note: This cake does take a bit of planning and patience to make, but it is definitely worth the effort!
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