Time to make the Christmas cake - timely book published

An evolutionary history, with recipes

Helen Leach, Mary Browne, Raelene Inglis

Otago University Press -  RRP $40.00

Includes 12 historic Christmas cake recipes adapted for today’s cooks!

Many popular recipes come from lineages that can be traced back for decades, even centuries. Festive cakes have been made in December for at least two thousand years. Using archaeological evidence and ancient books, the authors identify the key ingredients of the cakes that would eventually be served on Twelfth Night, at the end of the Christmas season. In 17th century English cookbooks, they find recipes that would have been made as twelfth cakes, full of expensive ingredients like raisins, almonds, sweet wine and candied peel, but made like fruit-breads, with yeast.

In the 18th century, a revolution in mixing occurred. Ingredient proportions followed the new pound cake principle, and for the first time butter and sugar were creamed together. The Victorian age saw Twelfth Night customs give way to those associated with Christmas Day. The first English recipe to be called ‘Christmas Cake’ was Mrs Beeton’s. In the colonies, a growing demand for rich Christmas cakes resulted in the renaming of a range of recipes: plum cakes, rich fruit cakes and wedding cakes were all co-opted as Christmas cakes.

The Christmas cakes of the 20th century are a special focus of this book. Nine cake recipes feature here, four derived from pound cakes, and five highlighting new methods of mixing or new ingredients. Their family histories are tracked, but the authors also show how New Zealand cooks went on to modify each recipe and develop new variations.

About the authors:

Helen Leach is an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Otago. Her research interests include the evolution of human diet and prehistoric horticulture. Her book, The Pavlova Story, was shortlisted in the Montana NZ Book Awards 2009.

Mary Browne is a leading food writer who updated and photographed twelve classic pavlova recipes for The Pavlova Story.

Raelene Inglis is a researcher in food history. Her earlier investigations into Christmas cakes with Helen created the database from which this book has grown.

The book is liberally illustrated with appealing images and three shots follow to give you an idea: