Christmas Cake

The story

Unlike the pudding, which is steamed and served aflame, Christmas cake is baked in the oven, but it shares the same philosophy of patience. Many families bake it as early as October or early November and then, for weeks and sometimes months, regularly "feed" it with small doses of whiskey or brandy injected through the top, so that the dark, dense fruit cake stays moist and grows ever more intense in flavor by Christmas. Only a few days before the holiday is it covered with a layer of marzipan and then with hard white royal icing, decorated to suggest snow or Christmas motifs such as bells and holly. Some families prefer softer fondant icing, a debate that in certain houses has run for generations. The cake is usually not cut until Christmas Day or even New Year's, and the leftovers, well wrapped, can last until the following Epiphany. For Irish families in the diaspora, the scent of whiskey from the pantry in the weeks before Christmas is one of the most recognizable signals that the holiday is near.