Mommy knew best!

Christmas Pudding, Christmas Pudding/Steaming hot, steaming hot/Sprinkle sugar, sprinkle sugar/Eat it up, eat it up   ...gorgeous smells wafting from the kitchen made December wonderful. We were most tempted by the whiff of pudding, though we enjoyed putting up the tree, decorating our home and making cards for family and friends.

What can I say, the cake was a joy to behold—rich dried fruit, the colour of jewels, were steeped in liquor and lovingly mixed with sugar, eggs and butter, by hand. It was like magic! You see, we grew up on a steady diet of Enid Blyton stories, and, in each, kids enjoy ‘Christmas Pudding’ much the same way. When asked, mum insisted her cake and the book’s was the same.

After baking it for what seemed like an eternity, the cake was removed from the oven, cooled, wrapped in layers of shiny foil and doused with rum every once in a while. But we had to wait till after midnight mass for a sliver.

The pudding of yore has transformed—from being made with meat and suet, very little dried fruit and almost no sugar (which was expensive), this seasonal treat has been adapted over the ages by reducing the meat and increasing the fruit, and baking has replaced steaming, to give us a deliciously moist, fruity, nutty cake.

I still use my mum’s old recipe, handwritten in a book that’s now in tatters, and still feel the same joy and anticipation every time I mix dry fruit in our liquor of choice, rum. Each bite holds the sweet of fruit and spice of candied ginger and spices.

Cooking Time: 2.5 hours
Ingredients:
l 200 gm raisin l 125 gm sultanas l 75gm glace cherries and
75gm candied ginger l 25 gm mixed peel l 25 gm flaked almonds l 1 tsp grated orange ring
1 tbsp orange juice l 15ml rum
200 gm flour l 1 tsp mixed spices (equal parts cinnamon, nutmeg and clove) l 30 gm ground almonds l 150 gm dark brown sugar l 150 gm butter
l 1 tbsp molasses l 2 eggs
Method
l A month in advance or the night before, chop the dried fruit into small pieces and mix thoroughly with raisins, sultanas, rum, orange juice and peel.
l Pre-heat oven for 30 minutes at 175°. Then take your cupcake tin, rub cavities with butter, dust with flour and tip over any excess. Flour should stick to the butter; this ensures your little pretties will turn out easily when done. Add the flaked and powdered nuts to the soaked fruit mix, and stir.
l In another bowl, mix butter, molasses and sugar till the mixture’s nice and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and mix. Add spices to the flour and sieve into the butter mix. Now, fold the fruit into it, till just mixed and fill 2/3 of the cupcake cavities. Bake for 2 hours, let it cool, then pour a tbsp of rum on each and devour!