The story and ancestry of the Christmas prove that it has its roots in an English tradition and the cake that is made today is was originally the porridge of plum. The tradition of eating it on a Christmas began in order to line the appetite post fastening for a day. As the time passed by, many new traditions were incorporated in the recipes like the addition of the honey, dried fruits, and spices converting the porridge into the pudding. It was not until the 16th century when the wheat flour replaced the oats and many new ingredients like eggs and butter were added that resulted in a plum cake.
During the time of Easter, prosperous families, possessing ovens began baking the cakes with nuts and sugar paste which was called as marzipan. Christmas would be the occasion where the cakes would be made with the dried seasonal fruit. The most interesting addition to this edition was the involvement of exotic eastern spices. This was basically the first form of the actual Christmas Cake.
Every region of the world has evaded the realm of baking, creating their very own version of Christmas Cakes. The United Kingdom had a very popular cake during this merry time of the year. It is nothing special but a Swiss role coated in chocolate that would look similar to the log of wood. It is a basic yellow sponge cake covered with the chocolate butter. A fork is used to run on the icing and produce bark like texture which is dusted with icing sugar to resemble the snow.
Now there is a story that enacts how the cake traveled out of England. The people working in the British colonies in the countries like Australia, United States, and Canada started making the cakes in advance to send them out as a present to their loved ones as gifts.
There are a few traditions that were once followed around the Christmas like ‘Stir Up’ this would traditionally take place before advent on Sunday. The cake for this occasion would be made in November and was allowed to mature for a month. One such tradition was preparing the cake which would involve the addition of alcohol like brandy, sherry. During all this, the cake is kept in the airtight container for the better taste. In addition to all this, it was believed that cutting a cake before dawn on the day of Christmas was considered unlucky.
Italy was a country with a sweet, spicy and dense cake specifically a cake with Britain’s plum pudding. The cake resembles on a great level to the today’s fruit cake
Japan also has a similar traditional cake where a sponge cake is covered in a frosting and decorated either with strawberries or chocolate.
Brandy and Rum would be mixed in a huge amount with the plum sugar syrup. This mixture would be used to soak the fruitcakes in the Philippines. The utilization of the rose water and orange flower water is high in these cakes. This is the reason why the cakes stay fresh for so many days.
If you visit different regions in the different countries you would find a whole new take on the recipe and never-ending versions. Over the time every culture, every family have added a dash of their personalities and contributed in this broad variation to this cake world.
Although, we are extremely lucky since we have great options around us providing scores of varieties in cakes. Pirajees offers us a joy of having a blissful experience with their amazing cake, pastries, and various baker items. Make your special time a lifetime of memory with Pirajees.
