Christmas Cake

Christmas cake is a kind of a fruitcake served during Christmas in Japan, Ireland, UK, Philippines, and many other countries. It may either be light or dark, spongy or heavy, round or square, cake glazed with icing sugar. Christmas cakes are available in various types, with each one being made with different ingredients. The type of cake made in one part of the world may differ from the one made in another region, with the difference lying in terms of ingredients used. Liqueur laden cakes are very popularly made during the Christmas time. It is very common for a Christmas cake to have decoration of Santa Claus or fir trees. Coins are added to Christmas cakes as good luck charm.

 

 

Ingredients

Often eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and nuts are used in the preparation of the cake. Other ingredients like currants, dates, molasses, and candied cherries can also be used in the cake, to enhance its flavor.

 

 

Preparation Overview

There are several recipes of Christmas cakes. The basic and simplest Christmas cake recipe suggests whisking together butter and sugar, until light and soft, and then adding beaten eggs, flour (maida), cardamom, nutmeg, almonds, baking powder, lemon juice, and lemon peel to the mix. The cake is then baked for a couple of hours in preheated oven.

 

Another Christmas cake recipe suggests soaking dried fruits in brandy for a day, before combining them with a cake batter made of sugar, butter, eggs, flour, spices, salt, and orange zest. The cake is then baked for a few hours. If storing the cake, it is suggested to pierce the cake’s top several times with a skewer, and drizzle the cake with some brandy. The cake is then stored in an airtight container, after being wrapped in baking paper and aluminum foil. This liqueur laden cake is quite popular during Christmas time.     

 

 

Variations

A few popular variations of Christmas cakes have been discussed as under:

 

  • Whisky Dundee- Whisky Dundee is the traditional Christmas cake in Scotland. As the name implies, the cake is made with Scotch whisky and has its origin in Dundee. Whisky Dundee is a crumbly and light cake made with raisins, cherries, sultanas, almonds, and currants. The cake is extremely light on candied peel and fruits, and is perfect for people not in favor of moist and rich cakes. The use of almonds or any other type of nuts can be skipped, in case an individual is allergic to them.
  • Apple crème cake- the apple crème Christmas cake recipe suggests using cream cheese, eggs, heavy whipping cream, sliced apples, and raisins as the ingredients.
  • Mincemeat Christmas cake- the cake batter is simply made by combining together mincemeat (fruit and spice mixture), eggs, flour, and other ingredients. A Christmas pudding can be made by simply steaming all the ingredients together.

 

 

Christmas Cakes in Different Countries

The country wise classification of Christmas cakes has been discussed below:

 

  • Northern England- in northern England, the cake is usually eaten along with cheese. It is usually made with currants, raisins, candied peel, cherries, flour, butter, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and brandy.   
  • United States- fruit cakes are gifted during Christmas time in U.S., though not known as Christmas cakes.
  • Cyprus- in Cyprus, Christmas cake is served as the first treat to guests arriving on Christmas day. The cake is almost equivalent to the British version.   
  • Japan- Japanese people traditionally eat the cake on Christmas Eve. Japanese Christmas cakes are quite spongy, with frosting of whipped cream. Strawberries are often used for decorating the cakes in Japan. Seasonal fruits and Christmas chocolates are often used as the toppings.
  • Germany- stollen is a traditional Christmas cake of Germany. It is a fruit cake, also known as Christstollen or Weihnachtsstollen. It is a loaf shaped cake, enriched with dried fruits, spices, and nuts, and covered with icing sugar or powdered sugar.  
  • Philippines- Christmas cakes in Philippines are bright yellow colored pound cakes enriched with macerated nuts. The nuts are soaked in plentiful amount of rum or brandy mixed with syrup made of water and sugar. Traditionally, civet musk was used, however, now-a-days, orange flower water or rosewater are used commonly, due to cost friendly reasons. These Philippines liqueur laden Christmas cakes can be preserved for a few months, if handled properly.

 

 

Trivia

In Japan, single women over 25 years of age were earlier referred as Christmas cake, as both of them became worthless after 25th December.