Christmas is as synonymous with plum cake as it is with joy and Santa Claus. It’s likely among the first five things you think of during the festival. Plum cake stands at the centre of the Christmas feast. But have you ever wondered where the plum in plum cake is, or about the tradition of preparing it weeks before Christmas? We’ll answer these questions and share a freshly baked recipe that will make your life easier as we approach the festival.
The plum cake has roots in medieval England, when the weeks leading up to Christmas were observed as a period of abstinence and self-denial through fasting. This was done to prepare the body for the celebratory feasting that Christmas brought.
The ritual started off with families preparing an indulgent and decadent porridge that featured oats mixed with dried fruits, spices, honey, and sometimes even meat. By the 16th century, this porridge had evolved, with oats giving way to flour, and eggs and butter being added. The resultant batter was then boiled, steamed, or baked, wherever ovens were available.
The term plum referred not to the fresh fruit but to dried fruits such as raisins and currants that were abundant in the mixture and were once called plum or plumb. Over centuries, this dense, spiced fruit bread grew into the festive plum cake or Christmas cake, enriched with liquor-soaked dried fruits and aromatic spices, becoming a centerpiece of seasonal celebration across Europe and later in colonial regions, with local adaptations around the globe.
