Allahabadi Cake, traditional Indian Christmas food made for centuries

When it comes to traditional Christmas dishes, the only thing that comes to mind is rum cake or fruit cake. Looking at its history, you will see that the Christmas cake originated in British cuisine and was previously called Christmas Porridge and then Pudding. Later, oatmeal was removed from the porridge and wheat flour with butter and eggs were added to it, resulting in plum cake. Subsequently, spices were added to this plum cake which resulted in a Christmas cake. After the creation of this cake, several versions of this cake were made in different countries and each of them was quite unique in taste and flavor.

Now, when it comes to Christmas celebrations, there are only 3 states that lead the rankings in making traditional Christmas food in India namely Goa, Pondicherry and Kerala. The first two states are pretty obvious as there has been a lot of influence from the West, while Kerala is a state where most Indian Christians have lived since.

The very own Prayagraj or commonly known as Allahabad witnessed the rise of the Allahabadi cake, which is a version of Christmas cake that has never been seen or tasted anywhere. If you think about what is so unique about it then you are going to be surprised here! This Christmas cake is made with “petha” or candied butternut squash. With influence from the city’s Anglo-Indian community, this traditional Indian Christmas cake has been made for ages and is without a doubt desi! What makes it delicious is the fact that this Allahabadi Christmas cake is made with lots of ghee or clarified butter, marmalade and of course petha.

So this Christmas let’s try to bake our own desi cake and celebrate this amazing festival with our loved ones. The best thing about this dish is the fact that you can decorate it however you like. Try this Allahabadi Christmas Cake Recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups of petha

6 eggs

1 tsp of vanilla extract

2 teaspoons of ground spices

1 cup of butter

1/4 sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 jar of marmalade

1 pinch, shahi jeera

1 1/2 cups mixed candied fruit

2 cups of rum

2/3 cup burnt sugar

1/2 cup lukewarm water

Method

• To prepare this cake, soak all candied fruits such as orange zest, raisins and currants in rum for at least a month. The more these fruits are stored, the more flavor you will have in your cake.
• Then, the day you have to make the real cake, melt the sugar in a kadhai over medium heat and let it caramelize. Then let the sugar burn until it reaches a dark color. Once done, turn off the heat and add lukewarm water. Stir to combine well and heat again until the sugar is well mixed with the water. Turn off the heat again and set aside.
• Now take a bowl and beat together the sugar and butter until soft peaks form. Then add the eggs one by one and beat continuously. You can use an electric mixer to beat all the ingredients. Finally, add all the ingredients to this bowl and mix very well. Make sure there are no lumps left and the cake batter is smooth.
• Take a cake tin and grease it well. Transfer the cake dough into it and bake the Allahbadi cake in a 180 degree oven for 60 minutes. Take the toothpick test to see if the cake is baked or not.
• Once done, let it cool on the cooling rack and when it’s hot enough to handle, take it out of the mold and decorate with cashews and walnuts. Cut into pieces and enjoy your cake with a glass of wine.

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