I know it is nowhere near Christmas and that I really should not be thinking of rich, dense, fruit laden, alcoholic cakes, but it is cold mid-winter here in NZ and for me that means Xmas Cake. In fact, Pakeha New Zealanders, many being European descendants of the second wave colonisation of these islands, sensibly have a tradition of mid-winter Christmas, which takes place sensibly in July. So now I can have Christmas Cake twice a year.

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Here are some I (and you) can chose between:

Country	Cake	Additions	Sugar/ Alcohol	Covering	Decorate
England	Rich with fruit cake	Currants, sultanas, raisins, poss. angelica	Rum	Marzipan, Royal Icing	Holly, ribbons, writing
Scotland	Dundee crumbly	Raisins, sultanas, orange zest, Seville marmalade	(Disputed) Whisky	No	Almonds
Sri Lanka	Spicy rich fruit cake	Glace pineapple & cherries, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, black pepper, choko*	Treacle, brandy, rosewater.	Almond icing	No
Kerala	Rich sponge and fruit	Dates, cherries, dried orange peel, cinnamon, clove, cashews	White sugar	No	Dusted with icing sugar
Japan	Light sponge	No	Cane sugar	Whipped cream	Strawberries, chocolate, Santa
Philippines 1	Dense cake with fruit and nuts	As English, plus macerated nuts	Brandy, rum, palm sugar, civet must or rose/orange water	No	Dried fruit and nuts
Philippines 2	Bibingka Coconut cake	Rice flour & coconut milk	Light brown sugar	Salted egg slices & cheese, sugar & shredded coconut	No
Italy	Panettone – sweet sourdough bread	Raisins, candied citrus, lemon zest	Rum	No	No
Germany	Stollen – yeast based cake	Sultanas, candied lemon & orange peel, nutmeg, cardamon, almonds	Rum	Icing sugar for thick dusting	No
Jamaica	Rich fruit and alcohol laden	Prunes, cherries, currants, raisins. Cinnamon, mutmeg, cloves.	Rum, port, cherry brandy, brandy, angostura bitters, molasses	No	Dusted with icing sugar
France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Lebanon.	Buche de Noel – light sponge	Coffee granules, cocoa powder, whipping cream	Grand Marnier, Kahlua	Decorative butter cream flavoured with coffee or chocolate	Plastic – Santa, Xmas tree, holly
Country	Cake	Additions	Sugar/ Alcohol	Covering	Decorate

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