In all my 72 years I’ve never made a Christmas cake. When I was a child I was lucky enough to have them made for me but also, often, we bought them. And I’ve bought them ever since.
But this year I made my friend Helen Hermanstein Smith’s Caribbean Rum Fruit Cake from her glorious new recipe book of sweet and savoury bakes. The original recipe was her mother’s who, as Helen writes:
Always used dark rum from Guyana (her birthplace) … for a rich fruit cake that lasts a long time.
On 20 November I soaked 450g mixed dried fruit in dark Caribbean rum (you have to start early – but any seasoned Christmas-cake-baker would know that). The smell has been temptingly delicious and I did taste some – just the smallest amount – to make sure the fruit mixture was properly soaking, you understand … .
On 11 December I made the cake.
But you could leave the fruit soaking for another week.
And sometime between now and Christmas I’ll decorate it and we’ll eat it.
And I know – by the smells – it’s going to be delicious. Thank you, Helen.