Pudding memories

My maternal grandparents were German, so perhaps not surprisingly our family Christmas traditions were conducted along German lines. On  Nikolaustag, celebrated on 6 December, we were given some little gifts. These appeared miraculously in a pair of your shoes, which you’d left outside your door on going to bed the night before. Naughty children were told that their shoes would contain only a lump of coal. We opened our larger presents on Christmas Eve, Weihnachtsabend, not on Christmas Day.

The meal we ate on Christmas Eve after attending a Christmas Eve carol service and opening presents, was usually cold but had taken on an Australian twist. We would have smoked salmon, cold turkey, ham, and salads. These days we also have prawns. We finished the meal with a pudding, which was definitely an Australian rather than a German tradition.

I don’t remember my grandmother cooking the pudding but I do remember her other Christmas cooking including pfefferkuchen, s-kuchen and stollen. There was lots of Christmas food throughout the month of December. 

When serving the pudding on Christmas Eve I do remember that once my grandmother was so liberal with the brandy for the flambé that it seemed the blue flames would never stop. One year she made an ice-cream pudding. I’m not sure whether this was quite properly German or even Australian, we only ever had this once.

I do like rich fruit-and-suet pudding served with brandy butter. In 1985, the year after I was married, I took part in a Christmas-cooking course presented by an English Cordon Bleu instructor. One of the dishes she demonstrated was a Christmas pudding made with suet, and I’ve been making it every Christmas since, for thirty-five years.

Advertising (1985, September 22). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995), p. 12. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128256902 The teacher was Julia Wilkins who had given an interview to The Canberra Times in September: The Good Times – Cordon bleu chef loves teaching (1985, September 19). The Canberra Times, p. 8 (a supplement to The Canberra Times). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128256035

This afternoon my son Peter and I made this year’s pudding, two actually. We had soaked the dried fruit in brandy for a week first.

The recipe is very reliable and the puddings are always delicious.  

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  grating nutmeg

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  mix

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  into pudding basin

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  cover with greaseproof paper

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  boil

• 

  the recipe sheet handed out in 1985 and used every year since

2020 pudding

2005 pudding with a summer pudding as well

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  2003 flaming pudding

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  2003 flames

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  2006 pudding

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  2010 flaming pudding

Puddings of the past, the blue flames are tricky to photograph

O is for Oma cooking from Dr Oetker’s "Backen Macht Freude"

Today I finally found my copy of “Backen Macht Freude!” (Baking makes Joy!). It once belonged to my grandmother. It is a well-worn book and the binding is held together with sticky tape. I couldn’t read the spine, so it was hard to find on my bookshelves. From the cover, it appears to be one of the original edition, first published in 1930. I can’t find Schwarzwalder kirschtorte in the index but I have noticed Frankfurter Kranz and Sachertorte as well as Obsttorte (fruit tart). “Backen Macht Freude!” is printed in Blackletter (Gothic) script, no longer commonly used.

“Backen Macht Freude” published 1930

Anne's Family History

I didn’t actually call my grandmother Charlotte Boltz née Manock (1912-1988) Oma, Grandma in German, when I was young. Although she was from Germany, to me she was just Grandma. However, my cousins called her Oma and my children know of her as Oma, distinguishing her from the many other Grandmas in the family.

My grandmother used to bake wonderful cakes, many of them from recipes in this book by the Dr Oetker company. I particularly remember her baking Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Black Forest cherry cake.

My mother’s copy of Dr Oetker’s cookbook Backen macht Freude, (Cooking with joy). It probably dates from the early 1950s. It cost DM1.80. The Deutschmark was introduced in 1948.

The recipe for Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte page 104. (click on image to enlarge)

The recipe continued on page 105.

The recipe calls for a biscuit base, then a sponge. The cherries are sour cherries.

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Anzac biscuits

Today, to celebrate Anzac Day, my daughter Charlotte and I baked Anzac biscuits.

We used a recipe from Taste.com.au. It seemed a bit dry so we added more butter.

 

ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 3/4 cup desiccated coconut
• 150g unsalted butter, chopped  (we ended up using 250g butter)
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup or treacle
• 1 1/2 teaspoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

Method

• mix dry ingredients in bowl
• melt butter, add Golden Syrup and bicarb soda dissolved in water
• add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients
• mix
• form mixture into small balls and flatten slightly
• bake for about 12 minutes in a moderate oven then cool on a rack

 

 

measuring

 

 

mix dry ingredients in bowl

melt butter, add in golden syrup, and the bicarb soda dissolved in the water

 

add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients

mix

 

form mixture into small balls and flatten slightly

bake for about 12 minutes and cool

 

Related posts

• U is for Unibic biscuit tin
• O is for Oma cooking from Dr Oetker’s “Backen Macht Freude”

O is for Oma cooking from Dr Oetker’s "Backen Macht Freude"

I didn’t actually call my grandmother Charlotte Boltz née Manock (1912-1988) Oma, Grandma in German, when I was young. Although she was from Germany, to me she was just Grandma. However, my cousins called her Oma and my children know of her as Oma, distinguishing her from the many other Grandmas in the family.

My grandmother used to bake wonderful cakes, many of them from recipes in this book by the Dr Oetker company. I particularly remember her baking Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Black Forest cherry cake.

My mother’s copy of Dr Oetker’s cookbook Backen macht Freude, (Cooking with joy). It probably dates from the early 1950s. It cost DM1.80. The Deutschmark was introduced in 1948.

The recipe for Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte page 104.

The recipe continued on page 105.

The recipe calls for a biscuit base, then a sponge. The cherries are sour cherries.

There were sour cherry trees at the bottom of my grandparent’s garden. We would pick them each year around Christmas tree. Grandma bottled them. There were always cherries bottled and stored for cake making.

Some of my grandmother’s cakes for a birthday in May 1985, quite probably my grandmother’s birthday. The cake on the left hand side is Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. The other cake is a chocolate and almond cake. My grandmother was very fond of lily of the valley on the right hand side of the photo.

Yesterday I baked a cake from Dr Oetker’s recipe. I was pleased with the result. The taste takes me back to my childhood. The cake is very light, not too chocolately and the sour cherries are beautifully tangy.

Baking the cake

Making the biscuit base. It seemed very dry despite the egg white but it did come together after being chilled.

 

the biscuit mixture is chilled and rested

pressed into the base of the springform tin

my baked biscuit base fitted perfectly onto my cake plate

Baking the sponge

the egg yolks are beaten with a little warm water til they are pale and creamy

egg whites are beaten separately

fold egg whites in – I do it a third at a time

add sifted dry ingredients

and fold in gently

the baked sponge

upside down cooling – I am pleased with the texture

The filling

Assembling the cake

The finished product

Essential ingredients

I felt fortunate to be able to buy in Ballarat both sour cherries and Kirschwasser from the Schwarzwald

Further reading

Translation of the recipe into English by Reddit users at the request of somebody else whose Grandma used to make this cake: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/13jtsz/my_grandma_who_past_away_used_to_make_a_black/