Christmas cake is an important tradition, with many people making their own from scratch, using traditional recipes that have been handed down the family for generations. By starting to prepare it early, it will have reached the required moistness and texture to ensure it's perfect in time for the festive celebrations.
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The history of Christmas cake
Today's traditional Christmas cake is the result of two festive dishes being merged in the 16th century: Twelfth Night cake and plum porridge.
In the 1570s, it was tradition for people to eat plum porridge on Christmas Eve. In the late 16th century, butter replaced the oatmeal in the recipe and flour, wheat and eggs were added. The mixture was still boiled to cook it, although over time, as more well-off families began to have ovens in their home, the mixture was baked.
Later, it was mixed with the ingredients of Twelfth Night cake (a cake flavoured with dried fruit and spices), which was eaten on the Epiphany, or the Twelfth Night. A significant addition, the spices represented those brought by the Wise Men to baby Jesus.
There were many variations on the classic fruit cake, as it could be dark, light, dry, moist, heavy, spongy, or many other textures, according to individual taste.
By the 1830s, the popularity of Twelfth Night as a celebration had declined, while Christmas festivities had increased, so the cake was being eaten on Christmas Day instead - hence today's tradition was born.
What are the ingredients?
Many people are advocates of the original method of making a Christmas cake, involving boiling the ingredients including fruit, sugar and butter, adding cherry brandy or another liqueur to taste and then mixing in ground almonds and eggs.
Most of the hard work is done by simply bubbling the mix up in a pan, without soaking the fruit, or creaming the butter. Then the flour and spices are stirred in and it's baked in the oven, usually for around two hours, depending on its size.
After the cake is baked, you can add more cherry brandy to taste - hence the idea that by baking it early, you can enhance the taste and also make sure it's moist in time for Christmas. Pour a small amount of brandy (or sherry or whisky) into holes in the cake weekly until Christmas - a process known as "feeding" the cake.
Decorating a Christmas cake
Traditionally, Christmas fruit cakes are decorated with a layer of marzipan and icing on top, but there are certain ways of adding the topping and it shouldn't be done immediately after the cake has been baked.
The layer of marzipan should be added to the cake a week before you plan to ice it, allowing any oiliness to dry out. Then, cover the marzipan with a clean tea towel and store it for seven days, until you're ready to ice it. Many chefs believe the icing is best left until the last few days before Christmas or even until Christmas Eve, if you have the time to complete it then.
When you need the best food-quality containers in which to store your Christmas cake and other edible goodies, Solent Plastics has the solution. Catering to UK and global orders, we specialise in plastic storage boxes of all shapes and sizes, including airtight food storage containers for all your Christmas dishes.
For further information on our food-standard containers, bins and other plastic storage products, give us a ring on 01794 514478 or email sales@solentplastics.co.uk to speak to an advisor.
Happy baking!