Kerala Style Plum Cake – Christmas Cake!

Hello My Dear Wonderful readers!

As I made this wonderful cake, I cannot believe how fast this year went by. It’s close to a year since I started the blog, my son is almost a year an a half old and everyday there is so much happening! Some times I cannot believe that so much happened in a year and on the other hand I cannot wait for the new year to begin. My little peach takes all my time and for some strange reason I am ok with that. Maybe thats what motherhood feels like! Even as I am typing this post out, my son is sitting on my lap and every now and then I have to hit the delete button cause there are random taps on the keyboard. But all I can see is a little boy, who can look at me and melt my heart just by a little smile. That being said, being a mother also has its hard days. Like when he gets up on the wrong side of the bed and he throws a tantrum and turns the whole house upside down. Yes, I am sure you know what I am talking about if you are a mum too.

Now while I was making this cake I was reminded of my childhood days in a small temple town in Kerala. My grandfather was an advocate and a man of great importance. No not just for his skills at advocacy but for his knowledge in  science, maths and astrology. You know how in those days everybody knew everybody in villages and towns? Just like that everybody knew him and everybody loved the food my grandmother makes. So people would flock to my ancestral home for lunches and late dinners. But during this time of the year, my house would sing another tune. This was the time when every morning we would wake up to a delivery boy standing with a cake box in his hand and a note that wished all of us a “Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year”. The boxes would be left on the bigger dining table in the main room and we would wait for my granny to open it! Oh the excitement to see Kerala Plum Cake, dressed in hard royal icing, with leaves of a florescent green and roses of electric pink and dark red! And a little thin cardboard piece that spelled “Merry X’mas”. That was the best! My granny would bring a nice thin knife from the kitchen and we all would fight for the biggest piece and we would save the “roses and leaves” for the end. Finally we would be happy with cake in in our bellies, red colour tongues and little hard icing all over our face. Yes, Christmas was only about the food.

I almost forgot. The little delivery boy would also have two amber bottles in his hand. Wrapped in the local news paper and then tied with a string, these bottles housed the greatest wines I have ever tasted!  No they were not just grape wine. They ranged from passion fruit, to holy basil wine! Yes, Christmas was that time of the year when cake and wine was an every day affair in Kerala.

PS – we never ever got to taste the wine apart from the sweet grape “wine” which was served in plastic glasses to the children so they don’t break the glass 🙂

This recipe was one shared by a close friend of mine and they make them in Kilograms! They make them in trays and bake for almost an army! and believe me nothing ever goes to waste!

Soaking Dry Fruits and Nuts :-

1. Raisins – 50 gms
2. Pistachio – 50 gms (de shelled and plain)
3. Sultanas – 50 gms
4. Cashew Nuts -50 gms
5. Walnuts – 50 gms
6. Apricots – 7 -8
7. Candied Ginger -4 – 5 (long)
8. Candied Oranger Peel – 5 peels
9. Dates – 100 gms
10. Almonds – 50 gms
11. Prunes – 4
12. Candied Cherries – 12
13. Rum –  180 ml

Instructions :-

1. Open a zip lock bag and add all nuts. Close the bag making sure to push out all the air within the bag
2. Now after closing the bag, using a rolling pin, roughly smash the nuts to bring to coarse mixture. Drop the nuts into a  clean glass bottle
3. Now place the rest of the fruits on a chopping board ( except the rum :p) and roughly chop to small bits
4. Add the chopped fruit into the bottle with the nuts
5. Now add the rum over the fruits and close the lid tightly
6. Give the bottle a nice shake and set aside to soak away!
7. Let the bottle at least 2 days to rest by the end of day two you will see that all the rum has been absorbed by the fruits and nuts!

Now when you are ready to bake this beauty, the first thing you need to make is the golden syrup. This is what gives the cake its colour and that dark intense flavour. This part is a little tricky cause you want the liquid to resemble honey. Also at all times use a long spoon/ ladle and watch out cause you are playing with hot hot sugar!

Ingredients:-

1. Sugar – 1 cup
2. Water – 1/2 cup ( make sure you have a table spoon in hand)

Instructions :-

1. In a sauce pan, over low flame add the sugar and let the sugar begin to melt. Do not stir till you see the sugar begin to caramelise from the sides
2. Slowly when you see it begin to bubble just slowly use a ladle and give it one stir and add one table spoon of water
3. The sugar will slowly turn from white, to yellow to brown to a dark brown, that is when you will see the sugar begin to bubble, take the pan off the heat and slowly add rest of the water one spoon at a time and stir well
4. Finally you will have a nice thick, dark brown syrup! That is the heart of this recipe

Baking the Cake

Ingredients :-

1. Maida/ Cake Flour – 250 gms
2. Powdered Sugar – 1 + 1/2 cup
3. Baking Powder – 1 + 1/4 tsp
4. Baking Soda – 1/2
5. Butter – 250 gms
6. Salt – 1/4 tsp
7. Soaked Fruits
8. Prepared Golden Syrup
9. Eggs – 4
10. Vanilla Extract – 2 tsp
11. Cloves – 5  –
12. Cardamom – 5
13. Cinnamon Powder – 1/2 tsp
14. Nutmeg – half a nutmeg
15. Dry Ginger Powder – 1 tsp

Instructions :-

1. Pre heat your oven to 180C and line a 9 inch pan with baking paper. Make sure to line the sides of the pan with paper a few cms above the height of the pan
2. Drain out any excess rum from the soaked fruits and receive for later use
3. In a bowl, combine flour , baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sieve the mixture twice to make sure the ingredients have combined well. Take a table spoon for the dry mixture and mix into the drained nuts. This stops the nuts from sinking to the bottom of the pan while baking
4. Powder all the whole spices with the powders and set aside
5. Separate the egg whites and set aside. Beat the egg whites to form soft peaks
6. In the bowl of your stand mixer combine sugar and butter and mix together for a nice paste
7. Then add the egg yolk, vanilla extract and spices
8. Then add your golden syrup that was made earlier
9. Now divide your flour mixture into 3 parts and slowly combine with the spices egg butter mixture within the bowl
10. After the flour, add the egg whites also into 3 parts
11. Finally add the soaked fruits and nuts. If you have any liquid left from the soaked mixture then add only 3 – 4 tbsps of the liquid to the batter
12. Pour the batter into the greased and lined cake pan
13. Bake for 50 – 55 mins or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean
14. Once done take the cake pan out of the oven and set to cool for 10 mins, then run a knife alone the side of the cake pan to release the cake
15. Invert the cake over a cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature
16. Make sure to cut only after it has cooled completely!
17. Enjoy