Christmas time is not the same for everyone. For most of us, it’s about spending time with family, opening presents and eating delicious food. But what do Southern European people bake at Christmas? What are their traditions? And how different are they to our own? In this article on cakes and desserts, you can explore some of the Moorish influences on Iberian cooking and find out more about what people eat in Southern Europe.
Firstly let’s start with what we eat in this country. Mince pies and Christmas Cake are heavy on preserved fruit. The preservation comes from the time of year (there’s not much fruit on the trees in December) but the tradition is all about twelth night. The Christmas cake was meant to be eaten on the last night of Christmas and a mince pie was traditionally meant to be eaten on each day of the festive period.
Now let’s fly south to Spain. Some parts of Spain, especially in the South reach temperatures of 20 degrees on Christmas day so a Christmas cake might be a bit out of place. So in place of the mince pies, you will find things like bunyols, a deep-fried pastry with an airy dough and either sweet or savoury fillings. The Spanish also tend to eat a lot of Moorish inspired delicacies at Christmas time like mantecados, a sort of cake made from almonds and honey. Sugar is used quite liberally in Spain at Christmas time too – the symbol for Christmas being an orange studded with cloves.
The next stop on our tour is Italy where you will find some very special cakes called pandoro and panettone which are eaten all year round but especially at Christmas time. These lovely cakes are made from butter, eggs and sugar with a hint of orange flower water. You can also find panforte which is more of a gingerbread-style cake containing dried fruits like figs, raisins and almonds as well as spices such as cinnamon and cloves.
Next, let’s fly back to Iberia but this time Portugal. The Portuguese at Christmas time make a cake which is called Pao de Ló. This is a very light sponge with lots of eggs used to give it an airy texture – perfect for dipping into your Christmas coffee.
The Greeks at Christmas time like to bake kourabiedes which are little crescent-shaped cakes made with flour, butter and sugar. They also make a cake whose name means ’round things’ (which is quite apt considering it’s round). The Greek version of panettone is called Christopsomo which has raisins and orange zest and is covered in a glaze made with honey and egg.
Finally, we’ll head back to Italy one last time but this time we’re going to pay Sicily a visit where the most important cake of Christmas is not eaten at all – it’s thrown! The cucciddatu (or cucidati as they spell it) is an orange-sized round cake made with dried figs, nuts and sugar. At the beginning of Mass on Christmas day, it is thrown at two people to symbolise fertility – one represents Mary and the other Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem prior to Jesus’ birth.
We hope you enjoyed our little trip around Europe to discover some more unusual festive baking ideas. And, if you are looking for some ideas as to how you can decorate these, or any other, cakes this Christmas head on over to Anges De Sucres for some inspiration.
Disclosure: collaborative post
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