Christmas Countdown Local 2022 #16 - Memories of Cake

Here is a flashback .... I wrote the following in 2015 ... 

Each year, I try to blog a visual advent calendar . This year, my mother turned 90 and I am dedicating this series of blog posts to her because this year, it's all about Christmas Cake, and of course I am starting off with my mother's much loved Christmas Cake - moist, delicious and  intoxicatingly rich. 

For more years than I can remember ( probably about 40 years) , my mother has been sending me Christmas cakes, so I don't remember ever making a cake for Christmas! You might think that this is not such a significant gesture, but my mother lives  interstate 1593 km ( 990 miles) away, so she has had to depend on Australia Post or adding to the luggage allowance of visiting relatives.The longest distance Christmas cakes have had to be sent is when we were living in Bombala, NSW  which is 2393 km (1486 miles) away from Townsville, Queensland. Throughout the years, it has never been just one cake - there is always one for my husband's family Christmas celebration as well , and usually another spare!

Many people have asked my mother for this recipe, but many many years ago, she promised a friend that she would not  distribute this cake recipe to others and she has kept her word.  This has its drawbacks, as Mum then has to make many cakes as we dare not try to replicate this  recipe although I think some of us have tried to watch and remember the ingredients and method. It is a dried fruit laden boiled cake.  I personally think the secret of this beautiful cake is the "feeding" of the cake - the process of adding alcohol regularly to the cooked cake over a month or so.  Nothing like some good quality brandy to add that extra  flavour! Perhaps rum or even sherry would also suffice, but whatever the alcohol, it seems to add another dimension of  richness.

You may be wondering why I have  revisited a blog post from 2015 and why I  have missed a few days in my Christmas Countdown series ... the reason is my dear mum passed away last Friday, 16 December 2022.  My mother was an independent,  hard working, generous, resilient , and thoughtful woman who at the age of 97 enjoyed a full life and merely slipped away in her sleep. Of course, I am very sad but I am also grateful for all that she did and achieved. She was a successful business woman, talented craftswoman, loyal friend and loving and  caring parent, grandparent and great grandparent.  One of Mum's favourite times of the year was Christmas . She loved decorating, making handmade ornaments and gifts and baking Christmas cakes. 

This year is the first year for as long as I can remember that Mum did not bake... earlier this year, she moved to a full time care facility. In honour of my mother, I baked Christmas cakes.... she finally gave me an outline of a recipe. I made the cakes last month - one was cut for  my husband's family Christmas a couple of weeks ago  and served at a family event in local Lambton Park. It wasn't exactly the same , but was very close - one of the last conversations I had with her was about Christmas cake - I said mine was good but not as good as hers, and she reassured me that it would be fine and everyone would enjoy it. 

It will be a special but poignant moment when we cut the second cake on Christmas Day and toast my mother and her wonderful life well-lived.