Channelling my mother’s festive spirit through her Christmas cake

MY mother started making her Christmas cake from Miss McGregor’s recipe in about 1950.

Miss McGregor was Scottish and she owned and ran an exclusive dress shop in Smith Street, Kempsey which also sold hats, handbags, shoes and gloves to match any ensemble.

My mother started working there when she was 20 in 1949 and she stayed working there until I was born in 1959.

I don’t remember Miss McGregor but my mother talked about her, and the shop, for the rest of her life.

Mum passed away in 2017 and had long ago given up making Christmas cakes.

I started making the cake from the same recipe about 20 years ago, when Mum handed over the reins.

I still feel like a novice but I am getting better at it each year.

When Mum and Dad married and moved into our family home in 1957, Mum cooked on a fuel stove and eventually that was replaced by a combustion stove.

She never cooked a Christmas cake in an electric oven.

That makes such a difference, one that I am often reminded of when I try to estimate the time I need to cook the cake and at what temperature.

It is very much trial and error and sometimes I find myself talking to Mum about how much longer I should leave the cake in the oven.

I soak the fruit in a bowl that belonged to Grandma Cain (Hannah née O’Donnell from The Hatch on the Maria River).

Mum always mixed her Christmas cakes and puddings in the bowl and it feels like I have the spirit of Mum, Miss McGregor and Grandma Cain working with me as I prepare the cake.

I’ve left it a bit late this year but my Aunt Kathleen, Mum’s younger sister, and her family will expect to taste some of Ann’s cake on Christmas Day so I must get onto it.

Ingredients:

½ lb (226 grams) Butter

4 oz  (113 grams) Brown Sugar

4 oz  (113 grams) White Sugar

8 oz (226 grams) Plain Flour

2 oz (57 grams) Rice Flour

½ teaspoon Carb Soda

2 teaspoons Mixed Spice

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

½ teaspoon Nutmeg

1 tablespoon Marmalade Jam

½ lb  (226 grams) Raisins

½ lb  (226 grams) Currants

½ lb  (226 grams) Sultanas

4 oz  (113 grams) Mixed Peel

2 oz (57 grams)  Dates

4 oz  (113 grams) Glacé Cherries

2 oz (57 grams) Blanched Almonds

3 tablespoons Brandy

5 Eggs

Method:

Cover fruit with spirits overnight.

Line tin with foil and leave 3” (8 cm) above tin.

Cream butter and sugar add whole eggs, one at a time, mixing well.

Add jam, then well sifted dry ingredients and fruit alternatively.

Decorate top with whole blanched almonds and/or cherries.

Bake three to three and a half hours (says Mum) but it is more like two to two and a half hours in a slow oven.

325 Fahrenheit (160 Celsius) degrees.

Keep the cake wrapped in the foil and a tea towel in a dark, cool cupboard until Christmas Day.

Top up with a tablespoon of brandy every week or so.

I still can’t cut it until Christmas, as per Mum’s instructions.

By Pauline CAIN