Christmas Time Was Mom's One-Woman Bake Off Show

by Michelle Monkou

Christmas is coming. 

And so is Santa.

Gifts, including books, would be part of the day.

Freshly baked cakes and other desserts were always on the way.

That was my Christmas as a child growing up in a home full of love and the good fortune to have these material things. My (maternal) grandmother was the baking queen of the house and when she died, my mother wore the crown and earned her reputation as the baking queen handing out baked goodies as gifts to family friends. She continued with that tradition into her 80s before she died.

Since my mother lived for many years in Guyana, England and the U.S., she always widened her circle of knowledge when it came to her baking skills. As a child, I got to enjoy the eclectic array of Christmas desserts. Although as I got older, I then had to help with the preparations for these recipes and boy, did I grumble my way through the process until I got my first serving of hot goodies.

As the holidays approach, I am all in my feels right now about how special my mother made Christmas. I want to share with you a few of her favorite offerings. My description of the desserts are based on the way my mother made her dish (for any purists out there).  BTW, the photographs are not mine, but represent the look of the finished desserts.

Surinamese Dutch Fiado(e)

My mom said Fiado was a Dutch Christmas cake. When I checked on its origin, I found it mentioned mainly under Surinamese desserts. They do speak Dutch, however. This cake was labor-intensive. My mom would roll out the dough, spread the mixture of currants and raisns (the same mixture that she used for Black Cake), and then tightly roll the dough and fruit mix before cutting it horizontally into little sections. Another part of the dough lined the bottom and sides of a round pan. She then filled that pan with the small sections creating layers. Between the layers, she'd add cinnamon and butter until the entire pan was full. After baking, she'd pour a light syrup over the cake and then it was ready to be eaten.

Guyanese Black Cake

To be honest, I don't care for Black Cake. If it was part of the array of desserts, I always went for the other options. My mother would have the fruit mix of rains, currants, maraschino cherries that were ground and kept in a container soaking in wine/rum all year long. She'd make her cake mix and then had gobs of this fruit mix in the batch with other ingredients. It would smell heavenly as it baked. Now she normally baked these before Christmas and would store in a cool place. In the U.S. (Maryland),  she'd store them in the attic. Anyway, every day, she'd pour rum over the cake. And it would soak it up. By the time it was cut, the cake could probably get you pulled over for a DUI. At my wedding reception, I had a groom's cake, the wedding cake, and the good old Guyanese black cake (as mother insisted that her friends would expect).

African/Ameridian Cassava Pone

As a child, I didn't relish eating boiled cassava. There's no real taste except it's starchy and dense. But from cassava, you can get crisp cassava bread which was delicious with salted (means a little more salty than normal) butter. There's also a product called casreep which comes from squeezing out the juice of the cassava and having it go through an intricate process to make pepper pot.

But the dessert comes in the form of cassava pone which has a thick, gelatinous texture that is sweet, with the added ingredient of grated coconut. I preferred the corners or the pieces next to the pan where the top and side were crunchy/chewy. The origin of this delicious treat seems split between Africa and the indigenous people of Guyana. Figured I'd share the credit and any cuisine purist can rectify who made it first.

Irish Chester Cake

This dessert is also on my less fave side with the Black Cake, except that I love love love pastry. So I'd beg for the corners from anyone in the family who took the normal portion. I literally only wanted the pastry with a hint of that black cake. But Chester Cake is more than black cake. It's stale cake or bread (my mom would store any uneaten cakes or such in the freezer). Then when she was making the mixture, she'd add those alcohol-soaked raisins and voila, the middle was ready. And perish the thought that she'd use ready-made pastry shells. That thick piece of pastry was from scratch.

Guyanese/Indian Mithai/Laktoe/Kurma

One of my faves and my daughter's fave dessert is Mithai. As one of the dominant cultures in Guyana,  Indians have significantly contributed to the Caribbean cuisine. I've seen the term Laktoe to mean the crunchy form of this sweet/Mithai and Kurma for the softer, doughy version. I prefer the crunch of a good Mithai. Creating the dough and frying the cut pieces weren't difficult. Getting the syrup to the right point for it to crystalize onto the mithai was a trial and error until you could eye-ball the concoction and intuitively know when to toss in the fried pieces to be coated. At the end, my mom would give me a portion and I'd get my book and sit in my room munching and reading until I had to go to stealth mode to nab another helping.

Right now the esteemed crown for queen of baking is on the shelf. I don't bake the goodies because I don't eat a lot of the desserts now. Those pesky calories. And my children aren't fond of the richer eclectic fare. But I do treasure everything that went into making my childhood Christmases special and memorable. Maybe one day, I'll be motivated when and if I have grandbabies to spoil with baked goodies and stories of their great and great-great grandmother.