Christmas Cake 2009

Right. Enough of all that doom and gloom of yesterday. Today is another day. I did mention that I baked my Christmas cake yesterday. This is all slightly nuts as proper Christmas cake rarely all gets eaten. I'm also now on a sugar strike. It's not that mine is not any I good I'm sure. It's just that it's not that popular.

I, however, always make one. To be honest the main reason is because I love to feed the cake. You see Delia says that to get the best rich cake, then you need to make it many weeks in advance and then feed it some brandy at regular intervals. I love this bit. It's like nourishing your cake to make it even richer and more Christmassy. So, if any one wants any around Christmas time - this cake is going to be laced with booze.

It take about 4 and half hours on a low temperature to cook. And preparation time starts at least 12 hours earlier when you soak all your fruit in brandy. I put mine in the oven last night before we went out and returned to the house full of those lovely spicy Christmassy smells. I even had that smell on waking this morning. A bit like when I do the festive ham and boil it for a couple of hours or so.

Anyway, the upshot of starting the cake is that I also need to start thinking about Christmas. I have had emails and phone calls from family asking what we want. The main problem being Jonny who is SO hard to buy for. As we are away this year it also feels like I need to start getting organised a little earlier. Christmas cards and wrapping paper have been bought. Is it worth sending any given the post issue? Whatever. Send them anyway.

I love Christmas. I'm ok with cold weather and getting dark early up until then. And I like the preparation and the project of it all. And this year I am going to be in Bethlehem. Now it doesn't get much more Christmassy than that.