Thinking about Christmas cake

We lived in a two bedroom flat when we were young, and sometimes at night we could smell enticing aromas drifting down the corridor from the kitchen to our small bedroom, and my sister and I would know exactly what was happening in the kitchen! In late January we would smell bitter orange and black treacle… marmalade time, and in November we might smell a lovely spicy, buttery richness… Christmas cake!

Although we were only a family of four, we had neighbours who were friends, grandparents, aunties and uncles and cousins, as well as friends who might drop round over Christmas or after Christmas and it was essential to have a lovely big cake to offer. We weren’t well off, but I can imagine my mum saving her housekeeping money, and buying bargains when she saw them… I’m sure in the early days the dried fruit would have been weighed out from big sacks in the shop. The recipe they used was one from a newspaper which required a dozen eggs and I would guess at least a couple of pounds of sugar – I still have it so I must look it up and check!

These days we don’t have that same circle of people who might drop by in the festive season, we live far away from our family, and neither of my children like fruit cake… I have continued to make cake over the years and it’s only the amount of sugar and alcohol in it which ‘keeps’ it until my husband and I can finish it, halfway through February sometimes, almost just before Easter sometimes! So this year, I have decided, I shall make a tiny traditional cake for us and a chocolate cake for the children… but I have a few seasonal surprises in mind for that!

So thinking about Christmas cakes I was looking at other recipes and found one in The National Mark Calendar of Cooking, by Ambrose Heath, and I also found his advice on making cakes – ‘hints for cake making and baking’…

The following points, if carefully observed, will assist the amateur cakemaker.
Use best quality flour: National Mark can be relied upon to give satisfaction. Sieve the flour with a pinch of salt immediately before using it.
Weigh or measure all ingredients accurately. Poor results can often be traced to carelessness in this direction, pay particular attention when measuring or weighing baking powder, as the inclusion of too generous quantity may easily spoil a cake. be very careful also to mix the baking powder thoroughly with the flour.
Use unsalted fat for greasing cake tins and trays. lard or clarified dripping, used sparingly, is recommended for this purpose. melted beef suet is equally suitable.
See that the oven is sufficiently hot before putting in the cake. it is not possible to lay down any hard and fast rule as to how long this must be allowed, as this depends on the oven. With a little experience it is easy to learn the time required for any oven to reach a correct baking temperature.
In cold weather, it is a good plan to warm the china mixing basin by pouring in boiling water. The heat is then sufficient to soften the butter or margarine without oiling it.
The success of the cake depends very largely on its consistency. Fruit cakes must be mixed more stiffly than plain ones in order to support the fruit, for if it is too liquid the fruit sinks to the bottom, leaving the plain mixture on top. If you have to wash your fruit, be careful to dry it thoroughly, using a little flour for the purpose. if a flat cake is required, the mixture should be smooth in the tin and the centre scooped out a little.
When a cake is cooked, it should be evenly browned all over, it should be firm, particularly when pressed in the centre of the top, and it should not have the odour of raw ingredients.

Much of this is still good advice, but I’m not sure many people would use clarified dripping or beef suet for greasing a tin these days!