India’s first Christmas cake

India’s first Christmas cake was born in Kerala in 1883. It is also called the Kerala Plum Cake, and is a dark, rich cake with candied fruits, currants and spices. A tender crumb, an intense caramelised taste, spicy undertones and ever so slightly boozy, if adding brandy. For Keralites cutting across communities, the rich plum cake is an essential element of Christmas-New Year celebrations.

In November 1883, a Scot named Murdock Brown, who ran the Anjarakandy Cinnamon Plantation, asked the owner of the Royal Biscuit Factory, Mambally Bapu, in what is now the southern Indian state of Kerala to bake him a cake for Christmas.

Murdock had brought a sample cake back from Britain for Bapu to taste. Bapu knew how to bake bread and biscuits but he had never made a cake. He decided to give it a try with Brown’s input but the experiment came with some improvisations.

Bapu mixed the cake batter with a local alcoholic brew made of cashew apple instead of the brandy Brown had suggested. The result was a unique plum cake made entirely from local ingredients. And Brown loved it. The dish was Indianised (for sure). Keralites used ghee, which was never found in any European cakes, and spices like clove and nutmeg, though their tastes remain subtle.

Dates, golden raisins, dark raisins, candied cherries and orange are the dried fruits used for the Kerala Plum Cake. You can also use your favourite medley of candied fruits. Chop the larger ones like dates, fig, and cherries. Take a sterilized dry bottle or a glass jar and add all the fruits. Add rum, or brandy or any liquor and store it in a dark place. Stir the fruits at least once a day with a wooden spoon. For best results soak the fruits for a month.

To make a quick non-alcoholic dried fruit mix add all the fruits into a pan and add one cup of orange juice or grape juice and cook it open a medium flame till all the moisture is absorbed. Let it cool down completely, and you can add this to the cake. Make it a day before you bake the cake. Drain the fruits from the syrup and set aside. You need 3 cups for this cake

The spice powder

Adding spices is essential. The spices, I use are ginger powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and cardamom. 

Cardamom – 4,

Cinnamon – 1 inch long,

Cloves – 4-5,

Nutmeg – a small piece,

Dried Ginger – 1/2 inch thick piece or 1/2 teaspoon powder

Gently roast the spices on a low flame till they become aromatic and then grind to a powder.

Caramelising sugar

Use your own method for caramelising sugar or on medium heat, melt 1 cup of white sugar slowly. Stir and let it turn a dark amber colour. Do not burn. Switch off flame and carefully add 1/2 cup of hot water. It will bubble up. Put this back on the heat and allow the sugar to melt completely and the syrup to thicken. Allow this to cool down completely.

For the glaze

Sugar – 1 tablespoon, if you like it sweet or this is optional

Orange marmalade – 2 tablespoon

Water – 10 tablespoons

On medium heat, add into a saucepan and mix well. Let this come to a boil & thicken a bit and cool completely

Ingredients

All purpose flour – 2 cups

Baking powder – 1.5 teaspoon

Salt – 1/2 teaspoon

Brown sugar – 3/4 cup

Caramel syrup – 1 cup (as above)

Spice Powder – 2 teaspoon (as above)

Soaked fruits- 3 cups ( as above)

Cashew Nuts & Almonds – 1/2 cup (can be lightly toasted in butter)

Orange juice- 1/2 cup

Butter – 1 full stick at room temperature

Eggs medium – 3

Orange Zest – 1 teaspoon

Orange Marmalade – 1&1/2 tablespoon

Brandy – 3 tablespoons

Preheat oven to 150C. Grease pan with butter and layer the bottom and the sides with parchment paper. Grease the paper with butter and dust with flour, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients ,flour, baking powder, the spice powder and salt, mix or sieve well till combined and set aside.

Beat with a whisker, the softened butter and a half cup of sugar till light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time and whisk lightly until the mixture is pale and thick. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and fold in gently. Add caramel syrup, marmalade, rum or brandy, and orange juice and gently fold in. Add the rest of the flour and fold in. Finally, add the soaked fruits and the chopped nuts and mix well.

Transfer the prepared batter into the cake tin. Bake for about one hour and fifteen minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and brush with the glaze the let the cake cool down completely.

Serene Tharian, arranges South Indian Dinner Clubs in Cyprus, through her cooking club, The Best Exotic Kerala Kitchen. She can be contacted on 99 222462 to book a South Indian meal with your friends. Instagram/Facebook: @thebestexotickeralakitchen