Piece of Cake...
The sort of cakes and puds we love to eat at Christmas in England are not for the calorie conscious. But calories are comforting; like cardigans they don’t do much for your figure but the joy and warmth they provide makes you feel so good and cosy. If you can’t manage Christmas pudding straight after the roast goose, then go for a bracing walk, wait until tea time and plough in with a couple of mince pies and a dollop of brandy butter, followed by a slice of home-made Christmas cake with your cup of tea.
Remember that once Christmas is over, there are no culinary traditions to worry about for another twelve months - apart from pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday (and I have to admit I buy these from my baker), and Simnel Cake on Easter Sunday. Years ago every region in Britain had its own sweet customs for the various Feast Days. Godcakes in Coventry on New Year’s Day, Curd Cheesecakes in Melton Mowbray for Whitsun, Fig Pies on Figgy Sunday (Palm Sunday) and Syllabubs all over the place. Sadly, these customs belong to an age gone by, but the recipes which are all delicious are now being revived and rediscovered.
Traditional Christmas recipes are regarded as sacrosanct in many families. Each family jealously guarding their own recipes. Granny was particularly proud of her Christmas cake - but always happy to share the recipe - in which the dried fruit soaks enticingly in brandy for a week before even starting to mix in the other ingredients. And she said that the cake should be baked at least a month before Christmas and periodically carefully unwrapped and ‘fed’ with drops of brandy. I have had her family recipe for decades but only in the last few years have I found the time and inclination to actually bake it. What a revelation! Her mince pies topped with frangipane and flaked almonds were marvellous, too, and for wimps who could not manage Christmas pud, mince pies or Christmas cake, after an enormous Christmas lunch, she made tiny ramekins of Lemon Posset.
Granny’s Christmas Cake Recipe
Mum's Home-made Almond Paste Recipe
Mince Pies and Brandy Butter Recipe
Granny’s Lemon Posset served with Almond and Orange Florentines Recipe
Theo Hodges
Theo Hodges was born in Kent. After a degree in Graphic Design she joined J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency as an Art Director working on accounts such as Rowntrees, Kraft and The Butter Council. While she was at University in Perugia, Italy she started collecting recipes from friends and family. In 1980 she set up her own design agency: Theo Hodges Design Consultants. For many years when they were young Theo, her sister and six cousins used to spend vacations at her Grandmother’s Victorian vicarage in Kent. ‘The thing about remembering childhood’ she says, is ‘there’s a whole lot of oblivion, and then out of it something floats up, quite sharp and clear. Many of the meals I can still see vividly and various recipes of mine were originally from Granny’s kitchen. ‘The kitchen garden was stuffed with raspberries, huge red dessert gooseberries, strawberries, runner beans, peas and much more with the hens in a shed at the back. But Granny only ate chicken breast and runner beans, followed by raspberries and Jersey cream - and therefore so did we. When raspberries were out of season, and in those days the season was much shorter, Granny made Victoria sponge cakes sandwiched with cream and home-made raspberry jam. On this limited but delicious diet we all thrived’. Theo’s mother was an excellent cook as well, and had been taught by the house- keeper at their house in Mougins, South of France. And once rationing was withdrawn in England in 1952 and good, fresh ingredients became available again, she amassed an enormous number of recipes which has formed the basis for Theo’s collection of family desserts.