Sri Lankan Christmas Cake

Last year one of my colleagues brought back Sri Lankan Christmas Cake from her holidays. It was soo yummy I decided to try some this year, as an alternative to regular Christmas Cake. Even Caribbean Black Cake is kind of time consuming, although delicious. Apparently you are supposed to wrap each piece individually but a drunken attempt at an artistic ribbon is the closest I got to that.

The recipe also calls for chow chow - which is some kind of chinese fruit preserved in syrup. Luckily I realized this before adding the caribbean style chow chow - which consists of hot mustardy pickled vegetables.



Sri Lankan Cake

Sri Lankan Christmas Cake
(I omitted the vanilla essence, and added dried mango, pawpaw and melon for about half the raisins, sultanas and currants. I would probably add abit more raisins etc next time but I like the combination)

This cake combines traditional ingredients with exotic fruits and spices. In Sri Lanka, a marzipan made of cashewnuts is the only icing used.

(Preparation time 55 minutes. Cooking time 1 hour 15 minutes.)

INGREDIENTS Makes 2 cakes.

50g (2 oz) candied peel (use whole pieces chopped)

100g (3.5oz) chow (without syrup)(chop chunky)

100g (3.5oz) stem ginger (without syrup)

100g (3.5oz) raisins

300g (10oz) sultanas

125g (4oz) currants

225g (8oz) candied ash pumpkin or crystalised pineapple

225g (8oz) cashew nuts chopped

50g (2oz) almonds chopped

100g (3.5oz) glacé cherries (chop by hand leave chunky)

3 tablespoonsful brandy

3 tablespoonsful rose water triple strength

2 tablespoonsful honey

1 tablespoonsful vanilla

1/2 a nutmeg grated

2 teaspoonsful ground cinnamon

1 teaspoonful ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoonful ground cloves

225g (8oz) semolina

225g (8 oz) butter at room temperature

12 size 2 eggs

400g (14 oz) soft brown sugar



METHOD

1. Finely chop the fruit and the nuts (the first 10 ingredients). Put into a bowl together with the honey and essences (the brandy, rose water, vanila) and the spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves). Mix thoroughly and leave covered for 24 hours.

2. Double line 2 cake tins of diameter 20 cm (8") with lightly- oiled greaseproof paper. Put the oven on to 140oC (275oF)

3. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the semolina and the butter. Separate the eggs. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks together with the sugar until pale. Mix in the semolina. Add the fruit, a little at a time using a cutting motion, to make sure that the cake batter is thoroughly mixed in with the dried fruit. This movement provides a lot of wrist exercise!

4. Whisk half the egg whites until stiff. (The rest can be used for meringues.) Add 4 tablespoonsful of the egg whites and beat into cake mixture to slacken it. Fold the rest of the beaten egg whites and mix thoroughly. Put the cake mixture into the two tins and cook for about 1½ hours, or until a skewer when inserted comes out clean. Cool the cake on a wire rack. Once cold prick the surfaces with a skewer and pour two tablespoonsful of brandy over each cake. Cover with foil, place in an airtight tin and leave for a week before icing.

Triple strength rosewater is available from chemists shops. In Sri Lanka the christmas cake is cut into pieces and individually wrapped and served during the festive season. The marzipan is made from ground cashew-nuts.