Christmas Cake

The kitchen smells permanently of citrus and spices this week, that's how I know it's  nearly Christmas, that and lots of dried fruit has been invested in human food.

At least the cake was made weeks ago (and has been getting 'fed' on a weekly basis since then).

It got iced on Sunday. The holly isn't real.  It turned up on a gift delivered to our door last week.


F decided this year to make a  Christmas traditional food from each place she has lived. England is probably over represented because New Zealand (despite Christmas being in summer there) shares many of the same Christmas food traditions. The cake is from F's Mum's recipe and was her Dad's favourite Christmas treat. So cake to represent family.

Despite the summer heat in NZ her Narna used to make boiled Christmas pudding (with a silver sixpence - like Vasilopita here, or the Three Kings Day pie in France). One year F and her cousin Ewan had a pudding eating competition to polish off the left-overs - the 2 skinny rats of the family stuffing themselves with heavy rich boiled pudding.

One pudding batter made into several 2-4 person Puddings

Only Narna made rich pudding. Everyone else always seemed to produce a Pavlova, with cream and seasonal fruit (strawberries or raspberries usually) and brandy snaps.

Mince pies joined the team in England. F might actually be addicted to mince pies - commercial ones with really buttery crusts.  She's going to have make her own this year, and has already made enough of the fruit mince to make a gross of pies. (Someone is going to be seriously sick of mince pies!)

Half a batch of fruit mince

In Denmark it was peberkager and we have hung some on the tree in previous years. Peberkager need treacle, a difficult thing to source in Greece so this year we are going to have Musner (mice).  I like the sound of mice.

Musner (a kind of spiced shortbread)

Our Greek experience has added melomakarona to the line-up. F has found something else to be addicted to. I expect to get up one  morning to find her passed out on the dining room floor surrounded by the packaging and remnants of a week's supply of melomakarona for a family of 12.  Her hairdresser insists that she should make them rather than buying them......if she is going to go down that road then she also needs go start growing catnip in a pot on the balcony...

....we all have our vices.

Comments

  1. The cake looks lovely. I grew up with the pavlova, fruit salad and trifle brigade :)
    Wishing you all a great Christmas, Mxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fruit salad - we forget about that - with Spanish Cream. Aunty Ronalda always made Spanish Cream for xmas. Enjoy your lunch with friends (and leave out a little xmas morsel for my friend Mittens) xxx Mr T and F

      Delete
  2. Hari OM
    Not sure I have ever tried melomakarona... but if it anywhere resembles the unctiousness that is baklava, I'm in... I did buy some buttery mince pies for myself, to have something resembling Christmas this year - oh, and a couple of bags of brussels sprouts. Love me some sprouts; boiled, steamed, grated as slaw, roasted, sauted, spiced... (no, I don't get addicted, but the proof of any experiment is its reproducability...) Hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr B is cooking xmas dinner and I'm fairly sure they've forgetten to get sprouts. Parsnips are the thing F misses most. Greeks have a name for parsnip but we've never seen any here. Enjoy your sprouts. You don't strike us as someone who has been boiling them since 10 December. xxx Mr T & F

      Delete
  3. Ummm... that's a lot of food for two humans to eat. Watch out that they don't explode, Tigger!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The mice went to the concierge office at work (from me because they are my biggest fans). The pavlova went to a French friend (living nearby) who says (says) although they celebrate xmas well they don't really have any single tradition - like cake or mince pies... So we gave him one of ours. Our Greek neighbour Panagiota got one of the bigger puds to try out, the rest keep indefinitely, as does the cake (which in my experience gets carefully rationed except when Mr B is wielding the knife). Mince pies are being served to 'guests' (passing well wishers) with shots of Raki. It's amazing where it all goes. I'm having 'surf'n'turf' for my lunch; the packet said tuna and beef.... Merry Xmas xxx Mr T

      Delete
  4. That's a most impressive cake and a wonderful lot of puds.
    Merry Xmas to Tigger and family. May you find a mouse on the balcony on Christmas morning Tigger and catnip under the tree. Kronia Polla. All the best. It looks like it is going to be a warm sunny day. Perfect for after dinner walks and drinks on the terrace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr B and I have challenged F to go for a swim but it's a bit rough. Enjoy your family gathering. xxx Mr T

      Delete
  5. The dreaded who invented the pav debate lol
    I didn’t bake this year. Just made some Greek cheese pie
    I bought the rest
    Your Christmas cakes look lovely
    Yup. I’d definitely eat myself to death in your house lol
    Happy Christmas enjoy

    ReplyDelete
  6. The cake looks very impressive and yummy I'm sure. Have a good day, stay safe, Merry Christmas

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment