The latecomer’s guide to baking a Christmas cake

With many working professionals missing their deadlines of soaking their dry fruits for the Christmas cake, city bakers say there’s still hope of adorning the table with baked delights.
Christmas is here! And nothing signals the advent of the festive season than the aroma of baking and rum wafting through the air. Cookies, biscotti, gingerbread, shortbread can rustle up a storm in your kitchen.And in all probability, you can pull it off in a day’s time. But what’s the Festival of Joy without baking the traditional Christmas cake? Containing dried fruits soaked in rum, this is the centrepiece of all Christmas-time baking. And the process begins a month in advance. But if you have missed the deadline, worry not. For there are ways one can still taste the goodness of a Christmas rum cake.
City baker Bertha Joseph says baking the Christmas cake can still be accomplished, provided one does it the right way. “With a few weeks to Christmas, one can still bake the cake if they follow the other parts of the recipe to the T. Soak your dry fruits in rum and let it stay till the day you decide to bake, maybe a day or two before Christmas. Meanwhile, when using a traditional recipe, ensure that you follow all the instructions and use proper measurements,” explains Bertha. Melanie Gabriel, another city baker, says that getting the essence of rum in the cake, even if it’s faint, serves the purpose. “Most working professionals might not find the time to start with the Christmas cake in advance. For people like them, 10 to 15 days is fine. The goal should be to get even a hint of rum in the cake. But if it’s too late for cake mixing, then I suggest one opt for Sherry or any other liqueur to soak the fruits in.” Bertha on the other hand, offers another ‘cheat’ approach to baking the cake. “After you have baked your cake, you can drizzle it with a little rum for that flavour. But this has to be done only after you have followed the other baking instructions carefully.”
Another pointer for the latecomer is to always use good quality ingredients. “When it comes to using dry fruits, there should be no compromise on the quality,” says Bertha, adding, “When the quality is good, the flavour is just enhanced, even though you are late with soaking the ingredients.”
Meanwhile, both bakers suggest that one should totally do away with all the ‘shortcuts’. “When it comes to baking a Christmas cake, there are absolutely no shortcuts. Even if someone suggests a shortcut, alarm bells should ring because it’s the wrong way to go about it,” says Melanie. “Baking takes a long time and to get good results, one must invest that time into it. Any shortcut could result in a disaster,” warns Bertha.
So don’t worry about being late with your baking. You can still enjoy the goodness of this festive season and bake to impress.