Tuesday 17 November 2015

Cake, according to Alice ( and Mary)

I have just put my Christmas cake in the oven. Usually, I manage to make it during the last week of October, but life has been busy since we got back to Hebden Bridge, and I missed my normal deadline.

Alice, one of the Overgate Hospice shop volunteers made this apron......the fabric is exactly the same as a duvet cover I had when I was a student ( bought from Stockport market in 1974 ). As Christmas cake making evokes so many memories for me, it seems appropriate to wear this when baking )

Since we returned from France, I have been working at the Hospice shop for 3 days a week, and have enjoyed seeing how the new Furniture and Vintage shop has been developing. It has been lovely to see staff, volunteers and some of my favourite customers again. 

Not a very good photo due to reflections....but this is Rita, a brilliant Overgate volunteer, with a dolls house....that sold very quickly after being put in the window.

What with working, seeing children and grandchildren, a few reflexology sessions, an attempt to declutter our crazily overstuffed Hebden Bridge house, a couple of concerts and some cinema trips.....well, the cake sort of got forgotten.

a quick phone snap of me with 3 of the munchkins

Anyway...it is now 40 minutes into its 4 hours 45 minute cook, so fingers are crossed all will be well.

Whenever I make my Christmas cake I am transported back to my first ever attempt. I was 39, Jess was 3, and Jodie was 13, and asked if she could help me make it. I panicked. I had never made one before, I wanted to please Jodie, but I was anxious not to upset my grandmother, Alice, who had always made my cake before. How would she take to being told her cake making skills were not required ?

I am sure I have posted about this before, but as I go through these memories on an annual basis, I have decided to post anyway.

Our compromise was that I remained on the phone to grandmother Alice throughout the whole cake making process. Each step was spoken to me over the phone, from north London, to Huddersfield. Even after it went in the oven, we had frequent checking phone calls.....and then the final removal from the oven was undertaken only when Alice was convinced my cake tester had gone into the cake and had come out again, completely clean.

Alice later admitted that she had been really relieved not to have been required to make the cake....she was 85, and had been concerned that it would have been a little too much effort and responsibility that particular year.

The cake was great, Alice helped eat it as she visited us over Christmas....and I have been in charge of Christmas cakes ever since.



However, since Alice died......another grand lady has helped me. This year, as has happened for about the last 5 or 6, Mary Berry has accompanied me through the process.

( I always wonder, if I left out that one tablespoonful of black treacle....would the cake be a disaster ? It seems so crazy, to buy a tin each year, just for that one spoonful. I always forget it's in the cupboard when I make other fruit cakes, and never remember from one Christmas to the next, where I put last year's tin )

Jodie is 35 next year...Jess will be 25.....I wonder when I will hand over the reigns.


13 comments:

  1. Well done, Janice. I am sure with all these years of practice, the cake will turn out brilliantly. I have only made the acquaintance of Mary Berry this year, watching the Great British bake-off. She looks very nice and knowledgeable - I will have to look out for that Bible.
    Love the pic of you and the grandies - you look so fresh and cute! Lovely post. xxx

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    1. Thanks Patricia. The Mary Berry book is brilliant...mostly straightforward stuff, but all her recipes seem to be completely foolproof...which is very important for bakers like me.

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  2. I do love this post. Congratulations on getting that cake baked. As an American, when first in Britain I had no idea about the British custom of Christmas cake and as I do not like fruit cake was not in the mood to take it on! However, my husband being British was determined to have the tradition fulfilled and he made one himself -- much to my utter amazement. That habit lasted only a few years, but every now and then he murmurs that he might make one, but never does. As for Mary Berry, one of her cookbooks from the 1980's introduced me to many wonderful British recipes that I still use to this day!

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    1. I have to say that eating Christmas cake, with a cup of coffee, on a miserable cold January ( or even February, if I've made a big enough cake) is a wonderful thing to do. We favour eating it with a good chunk of cheese...Mark would choose Wenslydale, but since I gave up cow's milk, it would have to be a nice mountain brebis. Perfect !
      I think you should persuade your husband to have another go...maybe he'll get you eating it too.

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  3. Lovely story.

    There is absolutely nothing like home made Christmas cake. Shop bought never comes close...or so I convince myself! This might have a lot to do with the wonderful feeling you get from the baking.

    Well done for making the cake. Mine is still in the planning phase... xx

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    1. It always used to be a half term job..... giving plenty of time for alcoholic feeding during November and early December. You are right about shop bought ones though.... I've never found one a touch on Alice's ( or my) cakes.x

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  4. I can almost smell that cake baking..

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    1. Yes, the house has that lovely warm mixed spice feel. x

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  5. Good for you, Janice. It's fun (and I know a lot of work) to carry these traditions on, but, what a nice gift to pass on to the next generation, and what a sweet tale to tell 'round the holiday table about the year you first made this with Grandmother Alice on the phone. Love it.
    Hmmm . . . I should look into the Mary Berry Baking Bible. We both enjoy the Bake Off here.

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    1. Grandmother Alice made my wedding cake just a couple of years before she gave up on the Christmas cake production.....she was a fabulous baker. Mary Berry would have approved.

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  6. I haven't made mine yet....but at least I can get the molasses - from what looks suspiciously like an old oil drum with a tap standing in the warehouse at the feed merchant in town.
    I did enjoy the story of your first Christmas cake...nothing new about remote control!

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    1. The remote cake baking was the perfect solution....Jodie was happy as she participated in her first Christmas cake bake, Alice was delighted to be considered the required expert, I had help from them both, and took the credit for an excellent cake....perfect !

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  7. A beautiful post, Janice; its wonderful reading about your memories of family traditions. And of course, Jodie and Jess would have fond memories of helping make that first Christmas cake all those years ago.

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