The history of the Christmas fruit cake plus a rich fruit cake recipe

The roots of the fruit cake or Christmas fruit cake lie with the Twelfth Cake, the last cake eaten on the final or 12th day of Christmas festivities, 5th January. This was back in medieval times when the final feast held more significance than the actual Christmas feast. So, technically the Twelfth Cake is the ancestor of the Christmas fruitcake we know today. This practice was widespread in most of Europe, mostly the UK, where Christianity flourished like the river Nile in Egypt. The cakes were generally round with fruits in them, this sounds very demure and very mindful, doesn't it? That is hardly the case.

The simplicity didn’t last long and the class divide cemented itself in the UK, as the richer families, especially pro bakers, would frost their cakes with royal icing that settled on the cake like a semi-soft but firm helmet. To support a helmet of icing with sugar adornments, that was no less than a work of art, the cake needed to be heavy, so, more fruits were used inside the cake to make it sturdier. A pea or bean would be baked with the cake for whoever discovered it would be proclaimed king or queen for the day. Not only that, it started out as a simpler cake which was a plain yeast-leavened bread, studded with dried fruit and ale. But as the icing was added, the cakes upgraded to using rum or brandy, and sugar and leavening agents were introduced to plump up the cake too.

Now the Christmas cake is synonymous with modern society which started taking shape as the Industrial Revolution began in England, in the 17th century. More work hours meant less time to relax and the 12-day grand celebration dwindled to shorter celebrations, as workers returned to work right the day after Christmas. So, the Twelfth Night Cake was eaten on Christmas Day instead and the term “Christmas Cake” came outside of the UK for a change. While most countries love their plain, minus icing, the UK still likes its icing even now. As for its debut in India, a Britisher, Murdoch Brown, brought it to India’s Thalassery, Kerala, as late as the late 1800s, where he asked a local baker to replicate a plum cake.

To honor grandfather fruitcake, we picked a cake close to the original one, not the Twelfth Cake, with a glaze and liquor-soaked dry fruits.

Christmas fruit cake recipe (Serves 16)

Ingredients

Cake batter:

• 250 gm all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp flaky salt
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 400 gm walnuts, chopped
• 340 gm candied pineapple
• 340 gm candied cherries
• 225 gm raisins
• 115 gm unsalted butter, softened
• 520 gm granulated sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 ½ tbsp brandy

Extras:

• 2 tbsp, for greasing
• 2 tbsp honey, for brushing
• 225 ml brandy, for soaking
• ½ apple, peeled & sliced, for storing

For the Glaze:

• 2 tbsp cream cheese, softened
• 115 gm powdered sugar
• A small bowl of milk

Instructions

1. Grease a 10-inch bundt pan generously and set aside. Then preheat the oven to 135°C; a convection oven works for this cake.
2. Take a big bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, give it a mix, then add the walnuts, pineapple, cherries, and golden raisins. Toss these in the dry mixture, to coat.
3. Take a mixing bowl attached to a stand mixer or just a mixing bowl and a handheld mixer. Fix the paddle attachment and cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, on high speed. Add eggs one at a time mixing after each addition. Add the brandy next and mix.
4. Divide the fruit and nut dry mixture into three parts, and fold into the wet bowl, in three parts. Mix after each addition like you did with the eggs.
5. Take a large baking dish, fill it up with hot water, and place it below the rack, where the cake will go in the oven.
6. Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan and place it into the preheated oven, right above the hot water dish Not in it, above it.
7. Bake for 2 hours. At the 90-minute mark, pause the oven, and brush the top of the cake with warm honey. Bake uninterrupted after this. To check for doneness, poke with a skewer to see if it comes out clean.
8. Take out the cake and de-mold it.
9. Take half of the brandy and soak a clean cloth in it. Wrap the whole cake with this cloth, place the apple slices in the center, then use a plastic wrap to cover the whole of the cake. Let the cake sit for two weeks. Store in a cool and dry place, away from pesky bugs and dust. You can repeat the soaking for a couple more times for the perfect boozy Christmas fruitcake.
10. When the cake is all set to make its grand debut, make the glaze, optional. Whisk softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and milk to thin it, as needed, until you have a smooth mixture. Drizzle your glaze all over the cake’s top.