Why cake figures in the festive fare (From Herald Series)

Why cake figures in the festive fare

2:02pm Tuesday 22nd December 2009

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Did you use 13 ingredients to make your Christmas pudding?

Tradition has it that this number represents Christ and his disciples. The brandy poured over the top and set alight represents Christ’s passion. The sprig of holly on top is thought to act as a reminder of the crown of thorns. And if the entire family took it in turns to stir the pudding from east to west the pudding would honour the three kings too.

The fascinating thing about these particular traditions is that they have gradually woven themselves into the food served during the Christmas festivities, which are actually pagan in origin.

The early Christians did not celebrate Christmas. In days before Christianity, it was the Sun God – variously known as Tammuz, Saturn, Adonis, Mithras or Baal – who was celebrated during the winter solstice centuries before Christ was born.

It is thought that in order to win over Gentile converts to the Christian faith during the Apostolic era, the Roman Church adopted the ancient pagan winter festival and renamed it Christmas.

When Christmas was first celebrated it did not embrace the many festive foods we consider traditional today. The Christmas pudding began life as a meat-based dish in the Middle Ages, which was more of a soup or porridge than a pudding. Gradually as more spices and dried fruits were added, it became a special festive dish, which eventually turned into a boiled pudding when the mass of ingredients made it too solid to be served as a liquid dish. This happened around the 17th century when wheat flour and eggs were added to hold it together and it was boiled in a cauldron over the fire. Spices were added to signify the three wise men from the east and because they added flavour.

Over the years, changes continued and various ingredients were added and dropped until it finally became the non-meat, dried fruit-based pudding served flamed with brandy that we know today.

Those who still cook their own puddings will note the similarity of its ingredients to those of the Christmas cake. Both call for oodles of dried fruit, both are enhanced by a generous amount of brandy, both contain spices and both will keep for months after the festivities if stored correctly.

One is baked slowly for four or five hours, the other is boiled for hours before being stored until Christmas Day, when it is boiled for a further hour or two.

The Christmas cake is thought to have come into being when the traditional Twelfth Night cake, eaten and enjoyed on that night (January 5), was phased out. Twelfth Night was a time for holding a great feast, and naturally a cake sat in the centre of the festive table.

To this cake a dried pea and a bean were added. Whoever received a slice containing the bean became the king of the revels for the night; the lady who got the pea was his queen. Whoever got the bean was also supposed to act as the guardian angel for that family during the year, which is why it was often ‘arranged’ for a senior member of the family to get the prize.

It was Queen Victoria who announced that she felt it inappropriate to hold such an unchristian festival on January 5, and so Twelfth Night was banned as a feast day.

Obviously the bakers who made these cakes lost sales by this ban, and used their ingenuity to find another reason for baking a festive cake. By covering their cakes with snow scenes and selling them for parties on Christmas Day, they solved the problem – hence the Christmas cake.

The reason dried fruit features large in both pudding and cake is obvious. There were no fresh fruits harvested during the middle of winter in days gone by.

Dried fruits and exotic spices from the east were first brought to Europe by the Crusaders returning from wars in the Holy Land during the 12th century. Obviously, only the rich could afford them at first, but eventually dried fruits and spices were considered a way of displaying one’s wealth and eagerly sought after by the lower classes who aspired to greatness.

The fascinating thing (as I see it) about tradition is that it continues to evolve. In fact, every family sharing a Christmas feast tomorrow will probably have created their own traditions over the years and, as time passes, will probably create even more.

When I forgot to stock up with brandy to flame the pudding one year, I reached for an orange fruit liqueur and poured that over the delicious pudding Maggie, my sister-in-law, always produces, to create the flames. It worked well: the flames burnt bright and the pudding tasted great – and so another tradition in the Peacocke household was established.

Happy Christmas to you all – may your Christmas feast be filled with good food and traditions you have made your own.

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