There’s not many things I remember about my Dad’s Mum, Grandma Dot, but I do remember her cooking, her laughter, her beautiful bowls, her family lunches (especially at Christmas) and her baking. OK, so I remember a lot. She was a country woman who grew up in Werris Creek NSW, met a local man, Frank also from there and started their married life together. They had two kids (my Dad one of them) and spent their married life living in Stationmaster homes at various stations in the area. I have vague recollections of their homes in the country, definitely the sound and smell of steam engines rolling past the house that made the windows rattle. Her shoe rack that hung on the inside of her wardrobe and at Christmas time the sound of Perry Como’s Christmas album playing on the record player. And you know what else? Fruit cake. In a tin. That would be cut up and had for morning or afternoon tea. SO many rock cakes and biscuits and baked delights that came out of those tins over the years – rainbow birthday cakes before they were even a thing – and that fruit cake soaked in sherry that I just have to smell now to be transported back to my childhood.
They moved up to Sydney when they retired and that’s where I remember most of my time with them – playing in their pool at Dundas and eating passion fruits straight off the vine in our dripping swimmers on a hot summers day, sitting in their over heated lounge room doing crosswords, listening to the clicking of her knitting needles while the smell of roast potatoes and pumpkin cooked away in too much oil in the electric frypan.
When she died my Grandfather Frank kicked on for a few more years and when he died my Dad and step Mum cleared out their house of a life’s worth of stuff. I was lucky enough to get a few pieces – an art deco cut glass mirror that hangs in our entranceway, some of her bowls that I remember eating Christmas pudding and custard out of, some vases and her fruit cake tin. A tin that I just thought was a regular cake tin until a little while ago when someone on Instgram pointed out that it was fruit cake tin…der! Of course!
Ever since then I have had a hankering to make my own Christmas cake…but I didn’t have Grandma’s recipe and had no idea where to start plus I thought the whole thing was a little out of my skill area. It’s funny how we think these things with cooking don’t you think? It’s like me and pastry…far too scary! For the past 10 years we have been going up to Rob’s Dad and Step mum’s farm up on the mid North Coast of NSW and enjoying the Christmas cake from their neighbour Joyce…it reminds me so much of Dot’s and it’s been a joy to see my own girls delight in it for morning or afternoon tea which is a very serious business in the country.
A few weeks ago I was listening to Richard Glover’s show on 702 and heard a wonderful woman on called Glad Chute, who had that wonderful whistle when she spoke. She had a fruit cake recipe that she had been making for years and had shared with 702 over the years that people raved about. She was so lovely, I knew this is where I had to begin. And so on Tuesday morning, I did just that. Started my very own tradition, that has to begin somewhere, thinking of the little one growing in my tummy, and of my Grandma Dot before me. That’s the thing with cooking and recipes…what a wonderful thing it can be to pass something on to generations through time…all connected by food, and love and memories.
Glad Chute’s Christmas Fruit Cake (taken from 702 website)
Stage 1
1.375 kg mixed fruit
250g butter
1 3/4 cups of brown sugar
2 level tablespoons golden syrup
3/4 cup water
1 cup of sherry
1 level teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Stage 2
4 large eggs
1/2 cup sherry
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon lemon essence
1/2 teaspoon almond essence
1 level teaspoon bicarb soda
1 tablespoon hot water
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup almonds – chopped
3 tablespoons sherry or rum
There are two stages to this simple recipe..and believe me while the list of ingredients might look long and foreign to you or me it IS simple…one is the cooking of the fruit and then the second is incorporating the wet and dry ingredients into this fruit. Then it’s thrown into a tin and cooked in a long and slow oven for 3 hours. I had both kids at school, Frank at my feet, a tummy full of ham on toast that I ate before I started and Bing Crosby crooning to me. I was SO happy!
Stage 1
1. Put the first 10 ingredients into a saucepan then bring to the boil and boil for about three minutes. I literally threw it all into the one pot, whacked the heat on high and then turned it off after 3 minute boiling. I transferred it into another bowl to cool down a little quicker.
Leave to cool.
2. While this was cooling into a bowl I added in the eggs, the sherry and the essences and gave them all a good whisk. This then gets added into the cooled fruit mixture.
3. Now you need to really line your tin well. This means old school lining…perhaps even two layers of baking paper into a well greased tin allowing some extra out of the top of the tin. I draw a circle of the base of the tin onto the paper and then cut out for the base and then just a long strip for the sides. I had tips of cooking the cake on newspaper in the oven and brown paper on top to make sure it doesn’t colour too much.
4. Now you need to get your dry ingredients sorted. Sift the flours, chop the nuts and dissolve the bicarb into the hot water and add it into the wet fruit & egg mixture, folding the flour in as you go.
5. Pour the mixture into the well lined tin and cover the top before placing into that 160 degree oven for 3 hours. I placed a few almonds on the top but you could go Christmas crackers with the decos…think red and red cherries a go-go! My tin was a big 23cm tin (this also would be enough mixture for 2 smaller 18cm/20cm tins).
6. After 3 hours take the hot cake out of the oven and pour over 3 tablespoons of sherry on top of the hot cake (it will sizzle away) and then let cool for a little while.
7. I then had school pick up to go to so left the hot cake in the tin cooling on a rack. When I got home I wrapped that cake in the tin in a bath towel, just as Glad told me to. She leaves the cake in the tin and the towel in her spare bedroom until she is ready to deal with it…that could be weeks later.
8. For me, the next day I unwrapped the towel and revealed the cake. LOOK AT HER!
9. Then she got wrapped into foil and placed into an air tonight container where she will sit until December. Obviously the longer it sits and lets all that fruit and booze mature the better…even up to 12 months! This will keep for a year also…imagine that! I have no doubts that it won’t last the month of December.
Christmas Fruit Cake
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Serves
1
Prep time
30 minutes
Cook time
3 hours
Total time
3 hours, 30 minutes
Misc
Serve Cold
Occasion
Christmas
Website
702 Sydney
Ingredients
Stage 1
1.375kg Mixed Fruit
250g Butter
1 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons golden syrup
3/4 cups water
1 cup Sherry
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Stage 2
4 Large eggs
1/2 cup Sherry
2 teaspoons Vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon Lemon essence
1/2 teaspoon almond essence
1 teaspoon bicard soda
1 tablespoon hot water
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cup Self raising flour
1 cup almonds (chopped)
3 tablespoons Sherry
Directions
Step 1
Put the first 10 ingredients into a saucepan then bring to the boil and boil for about three minutes. Leave to cool.
Step 2
While this was cooling into a bowl I added in the eggs, the sherry and the essences and gave them all a good whisk. This then gets added into the cooled fruit mixture.
Step 3
Now you need to really line your tin well. This means old school lining...perhaps even two layers of baking paper into a well greased tin allowing some extra out of the top of the tin. I draw a circle of the base of the tin onto the paper and then cut out for the base and then just a long strip for the sides. I had tips of cooking the cake on newspaper in the oven and brown paper on top to make sure it doesn't colour too much.
Step 4
Now you need to get your dry ingredients sorted. Sift the flours, chop the nuts and dissolve the bicarb into the hot water and add it into the wet fruit & egg mixture, folding the flour in as you go.
Step 5
Pour the mixture into the well lined tin and cover the top before placing into that 160 degree oven for 3 hours. I placed a few almonds on the top but you could go Christmas crackers with the decos...think red and red cherries a go-go! My tin was a big 23cm tin (this also would be enough mixture for 2 smaller 18cm/20cm tins).
Step 6
6. After 3 hours take the hot cake out of the oven and pour over 3 tablespoons of sherry on top of the hot cake (it will sizzle away) and then let cool for a little while.
Step 7
Wrap the cake in the tin in a bath towel. She leaves the cake in the tin and the towel in her spare bedroom until she is ready to deal with it...that could be weeks later.
Step 8
The next day (or it could be a few weeks later) take the cake out of the tin, wrap it in foil and transfer to an airtight container.
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So there we have it, a first Christmas tradition that I hope to do each year. I even went and got some more fruit the next day so I can make another one to give a bit off to all of our parents when we visit at Christmas. That tin washed out beautifully, and it’s been put away, happy that it’s been put to use again after all these years.
I bet Grandma Dot was proud.
Do you make a Christmas cake or pudd?
Got a family recipe or tradition that you follow?
Made yours yet?
The post Start a Christmas tradition: how to make a Christmas fruit cake appeared first on BabyMac.