The Twelve Days of Christmas are a busy time of year. Filled with the giving and receiving of gifts. On the first day of Christmas my true love sends over a partridge in a pear tree. On the second day, two turtle doves arrive. On day three and four it’s three French hens and four calling birds respectively. Five, six, and seven: five gold rings, six geese a-laying, and seven swans a-swimming. On days eight, nine, and 10 it starts to get really crowded: 10 lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, and eight maids a-milking. Days 11 and 12 is utter mayhem: 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming.

But thankfully, through all this mayhem there is cake. Christmas cake. Rich and moist, filled with dried fruits, nuts and fragrant spices. So elaborate is the making of this cake that it is almost an event in itself. Just like the history of the Christmas cake is as rich as the cake itself.

Porridge roots

It all began in England with the porridge that was eaten on Christmas Eve after a day of fasting. Soon plums and other fruits, as well as spices and honey, were added to the oats to make a special treat to mark the special occasion. Over time, the concoction became so stiff and overloaded with goodies that the lowly porridge was upgraded to pudding. The pudding was created by tying the mixture in a piece of cloth and boiling it in hot water for a few hours.

The Christmas cake as we know it was first cited in 1573. It was around this time that the original oatmeal in the porridge/pudding mixture was replaced with butter, flour and eggs. Dried fruits, sweetening agents and spices were added to it.

Initially the mix continued to be boiled, until baking allowed it to achieve the status of cake. The baked product was finished off with royal icing and a layer of marzipan, a paste made with almonds and sugar. Bakers in Victorian England started to decorate their cakes with winter snow scenes. These became very popular at Christmas parties and by the 1870s the modern Christmas cake was born.

Filled with fruit

Large black raisins, fleshy sultanas, golden raisins, currants, dried apricots and figs, red glazed cherries, red and yellow candied peel, candied ginger, almonds, cashews, pecans, and walnuts. If you’re going to make a really good Christmas cake, you will need most or all of these. And a variety of spices too, specifically cinnamon, nutmeg, mace and cloves. The spices are said to be symbolic of the Three Wise Men, or the Magi, who came from the East bearing spices as gifts.

Rich with tradition

There are many traditions associated with the cake. One is that it is made in November and stored upside down in an airtight container. Another is the ‘feeding of the cake’ with small amounts of moonshine to make it even more flavourful and moist. And during Victorian times it was traditional to cut the cake after dawn on Christmas Eve. To do it before was considered to be unlucky.

To marzipan, or not to marzipan

The addition of marzipan to decorate the cake came much later when cake-making was banned on the last day of Christmas, also known as Twelfth Night. Until then, it was traditional to bake a Twelfth Night cake on January 5 which contained almonds and was covered in marzipan. However, Oliver Crowell, the Lord Protector of England from 1653 to 1658, and other Puritans banned feasting on that day. They complained about the excessive food and merry-making. Since Christmas Day remained a public holiday with feasting allowed, people simply started to cover their Christmas cake with marzipan instead.

Dark or light

There are generally two types of Christmas cake, light and dark. The light version is said to have originated in Dundee, Scotland, and therefore also sometimes referred to as the Dundee cake. It is light and crumbly, with a small quantity of fruit and candied peel — only currants, raisins, sultanas and cherries. The dark version is very rich, dense and moist, sometimes even to the point of being sticky. It is filled chock-a-block with fruit and nuts and covered with a layer of marzipan. The dark colour is owed to the inclusion of brown sugar and black treacle (sugar syrup) in the recipe. Aficionados consider the dark cake to be the only true Christmas cake. Both types have a long shelf life which usually lasts for several months.

So come the night before Christmas, lay out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa as is the custom. But feel free to keep the Christmas cake for yourself.