Thursday 5 December 2013

Division of Labour.


I'm sure that Lady Magnon won't mind me saying that she is perfectly happy to leave most of the daily cooking chores to me. However, there are certain things that are absolutely sacrosanct.

She insists on making our Strawberry and Apricot jams, and she rules over the annual Mince Pie and Christmas Cake production. She is also in charge of Crumbles, Tatins, and occasional Tea-Time Treats. In other words, she controls the key to the sugar vaults, whereas I am confined to the salt bin.

The annual birth of our Christmas Cake is a major, major affair. I have never known anything else that requires SO MANY different ingredients. Here below is Stage 1; the soaking overnight (in Armagnac) of the dried fruits.


What happens next is something of a mystery to most men. The kitchen becomes coated in flour and butter (after some explosion no doubt?), muffled expletives are directed at the dogs (you have to blame something!), and several hours of pacing up and down, and peering into the oven take place (these come under the headings of Stages 2 to 9).

Stage 10 is the adoration, and relief, on seeing the finished product. The cake is taken out, sniffed, ooohed and aaahed over, and put away until such time as we've all eaten so much that we couldn't eat another morsel (Christmas). It's bottom will also be regularly wetted with alcohol.

And here is the little darling, aged about 3 hours. Wot; no plastic reindeer and no snowman?





15 comments:

  1. Mmmm. Can smell it from here. Yum!

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  2. what would Christmas be without all the palaver? the cake gets a thumbs up from me

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  3. Ooh, looks good. (I only make a simple whisky Dundee cake for Xmas.)

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    1. Hers is an Armagnac Lumberjack cake (boom boom).

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  4. I love your description. Sounds like something out of Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'. You remember the bit? About the pudding.

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    1. Ah; Mrs Cratchit's famous pudding. Lady Magnon bought ours this year whilst recently in London.

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  5. I make four cakes Cro - one for us and the other three for presents. I love the whole ritual, the soaking of the fruits, the creaming of the butter (absolutely no margarine), the stirring all together, the baking, the annointing with alcohol, the icing and the eating. At present 2 are made and 2 to go, awaiting me buying more glace cherries.

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    1. Sounds like you and Lady Magnon would have fun together.

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  6. I can relate to Lady M. I love making desserts and they MUST be perfect, and yes, like your wife, I do make a mess.

    Lady M's creation looks delectable.

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  7. It looks wonderful. Reminds me of the fruit cake my Mom used to make. She made it in three sizes for my wedding cake.

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  8. Lovely rich fruit cake and just what a person who is trying to lose weight needs.

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  9. Looks marvellous, Cro. My gram used to make these, and sadly, by the time she died, her recipe books were all gone. Most of the recipes she carried around in her head, but the written recipe would've given me a base to work with, at least.

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  10. Wow, that looks lovely, so flat on top.
    Briony
    x

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  11. That cake looks out of this world and I bet it will taste just as good.

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  12. Hard to get interested in Christmas food when it's thirty plus degrees . I need to go somewhere cold for Christmas SOON !!!

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