Christmas Cake Tidbits

Christmas Cake

When our children were young we would make a birthday cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday to him on Christmas. Finding these recipes for a Christmas Cake reminded me of those early days.

Christmas Cake.
Ingredients.—1 lb. flour, 1/2 lb. currants, 1/2 lb butter, 1/2 lb. sugar, 2 oz. lemon peel, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 3 eggs, 1/2 pint of milk.
Method.—Mix the baking powder thoroughly in the flour, then rub in the butter, add the sugar, currants, and lemon peel, beat the eggs and mix them with the milk, and after mixing them all thoroughly together bake in a papered tin in a moderate oven.
Source: Tasty Dishes ©1880

Christmas Cake.—Wash one pound and a quarter of butter in water, beat it to a cream; beat ten eggs, yelks and whites separately, half an hour each; have ready a pound and a quarter of flour well dried and kept hot, also three-quarters of a pound of sugar, half an ounce of pounded mixed spice, a pound and a half of currants washed, picked, and dried, a quarter of a pound of almonds, blanched and sliced, and four ounces of candied peel, also sliced. Mix all these, and keep them by the fire. Strain the eggs, and mix them with the butter; add to them a teacupful of sweet wine, and a wineglassful of brandy. Then add the dry ingredients by degrees, and a quarter of a pound of chopped raisins. Beat all together for a full hour. Butter a piece of white paper, and line the moulds with it, and fill them about three parts full. Bake in a quick oven two hours.
Source: Our New Cookbook ©1883

Christmas Cake.—Beat one pound of butter into a cream, and mix with it three eggs well beaten, two pounds of flour, one pound of currants stoned and dried, one pound of sugar, five small tea-spoonfuls of baking powder, and a quarter of a pint of milk. Put the mixture into a buttered dish, and bake it in a moderate oven. This is a very good cake if intended to be used soon, but it soon gets dry, and should not be kept in a damp place. Time to bake, about two hours. Sufficient for a good-sized cake. Probable cost, 2s. 8d.

Christmas Cake (another way).—Take five pounds of flour, mix with it a dessertspoonful of salt, rub in three-quarters of a pound of butter, and one pound of lard. Put in an ounce and a half of German yeast or half a pint of good fresh brewers' yeast, and knead aa for common bread. If there is any difficulty about the yeast, baking powder may be used, allowing a heaped tea-spoonful of ordinary baking powder for every pound of material. If yeast is used, let the dough rise before adding the other ingredients. Mix in three pounds of currants, one pound and a half of moist sugar, a whole nutmeg, a quarter of a pound of candied lemon-peel finely minced, a tablespoonful of brandy, and four eggs well beaten. Butter tho tins, and line them well with buttered paper. Bake in a moderate oven. Time to bake, about two hours. Probable coat. Is. 4d. per cake. Sufficient for four cakes.
Source: Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery ©1883


Lynn A. Coleman is an award winning & best-selling author who makes her home in Keystone Heights, Florida, with her husband of 42 years. Lynn's latest novella available this month. The Rails to Love Romance Collection Her story is titled "Love on the Rails"

Bringing in the Yule Log--And a Simple Recipe

by Linore Rose Burkard

In olde England, a huge part of the excitement of Christmas was bringing in the Yule Log. It was a tradition mixed with superstition (as many traditions are), and was anticipated by keeping a small figment of last year's log safely stowed away to be used when lighting the current year's log. We're not talking about small logs such as what you might use in your own fireplace today, but a special HUGE log--(see illustration, above) which went in the main fireplace, usually in the kitchen. Think partial tree trunk, here.

 If you visit an old colonial kitchen such as in a restored village or re-enactment site, some of them have the sort of fireplace that was needed to house such a log, as in the illustration above. They were the kind of fireplace you could practically walk into, and served as the main heating source of the home as well as the area for cooking. A medieval kitchen fireplace illustrates the point even better. (See below.)

 Each year's tree or log was carefully picked out ahead of time so that on Christmas Eve--and only on Christmas Eve, absolutely no sooner--it would already have been cut and dry enough to light well.

The log was traditionally supposed to last not only throughout Christmas Eve to usher in the holiday, but all through Christmas Day, too. It was used to heat up festive drinks such as nog and wassail; and it was used for cooking Christmas dinner. If the log lasted, all was fine and dandy; if not, it was considered bad luck! And a charred piece of it was also to be kept as the fire-starter for the following year's Christmas fire.

I can only imagine the powerful scents emanating from such a fireplace, especially when the woman of the house had a huge kettle of wassail simmering over it. In lieu of a bubbling kettle over a fireplace, I offer the following simple recipe for you to use to fill your home with the "scent of Christmas"--without the log, fire and ashes. 

SCENT OF CHRISTMAS

3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of ground cloves
1 tablespoon of anise seed
1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 quart of water.

Mix together. Add water. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally, then simmer on low. A small crockpot kept on low is ideal for this.
Enjoy the scent of Christmas in your home!

( Did you know that memories are triggered by olfactory stimulants--smells--more than visual ones? In other words, looking through a photo album can bring back memories, but studies show that getting a fresh whiff of a scent from the past brings it back more strongly than visual reminders. For some reason, the olfactory nerves are wired that way--they lead right to the memory center of the brain. Make this recipe to scent up the house and create instant memories for family and friends. Making up a container of the dry mix also makes a simple but thoughtful gift. Package in a small mason jar or other pretty container with a bow and ribbon and include the simple directions. Voila!)  

I wish you all a wonderful and warm Christmas, with a house full of wonderful sights and scents! 

For Regency fans, here are a few illustrations of December fashions that a regency miss might wear:

  Linore Rose Burkard is best known for historical regency novels with Harvest House Publishers, including Before the Season Ends, the award-winning The House in Grosvenor Square, and The Country House Courtship. As a writer known for meticulous research as well as bringing people marvelously to life on the page, Linore's books earn her devoted fans who report reading her novels over and over. Linore is a homeschooling mom who enjoys cooking from scratch, family movie nights, gardening and decorating. Along with writing, her literary pursuits include teaching workshops with Greater Harvest Workshops (for Writers).