Every festival has its special dishes and the celebrations are incomplete without gorging on these foods. Do you know what delicacies are special for Christmas celebrations? Baked cakes, gingerbread, cookies, fruitcake, and plum cakes are only some of the many Christmas special foods and today we are sharing all about everyone’s favourite “Plum Cakes”. Do you know the history of these cakes? If not, read on….
Here’s All You Need To Know About The History Of Plum Cakes
The recipe and the process of baking delicious cakes began from porridge and pudding many many centuries ago. It is said that this cake actually came from medieval England. During that time, people used to follow the tradition of fasting for a certain period of time before Christmas. They fasted and observed abstinence from indulgence for a very fun reason. People back then did not enjoy these so that they could prepare their bodies for the gala Christmas season where they could eat, rather overeat all the special dishes.
According to the traditions back in medieval England, people ate a delish porridge on Christmas eve to get ready for the gastronomical affair on the day of celebrations. It is said that this rich porridge was actually made with oats, honey, plums, spices, and different dried fruits. The name of this porridge was “grandfather of the Christmas”.
The Story Is Quite Long!!!
As time passed on, people started adding many ingredients to the porridge and changed the traditional recipe a bit. Slowly, ingredients such as butter, eggs, and flour were added to the mix. Then the mixture was poured into a piece of muslin cloth and put inside boiling water for a long time. It stayed like that until the mixture formed a dense cake-like shape. And people who had ovens baked the mixture in ovens.
Also read: From Plum Cakes To Rum Balls; 6 Best Places In Bangalore For Christmas Goodies
The stories are centuries old and the reason behind the name “plum cakes” is still very different. Some say that the name came because of the usage of loads of dried fruits. And dried fruits were known as plums back then in England. Another theory suggests that dried plums were the primary ingredient of the pudding and hence the name Plum Cakes.
No matter what is the actual reason behind the name or the recipe, plum cakes still continue to be such a loved cake even today. And all our Christmas celebrations are simply incomplete without this cake. So are you baking some for this year?
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