Homecoming
and a recipe for a coffee almond crunch cake for the holidays, or any day really
The holidays are fraught with peril.
Expectations run high, tempers fray, kids are cantankerous, bellies are full to discomfort. The ideal light dusting of snow becomes a blizzard or, depressingly, rain. Schedules are jammed, presents don’t arrive in time, driving anywhere is maddening.
Yet with their insistent tattoo and inevitability, the holidays are as inescapable as snow melting in the blinding winter sun. It’s enough to make you want to stay in bed, pull the covers over your head, and dream of a deserted island somewhere with nothing but the sound of waves lapping the sand to lull you back to sleep.
Home truths
Still, when the holidays roll around, the pull of home is deep-rooted.
It’s not always about a physical space and place. It could be the snatch of a song, a long-forgotten ornament found at the bottom of a box. It’s the family plates pulled out from a crowded basement cupboard, the tartan tablecloth carefully pressed into service, the recipe that always holds pride of place on the menu.
Most of all, it’s the people gathered around the table that make it home, both those present in the here and now and the presence of those no longer there, tangible as a lingering scent, a far away laugh.
When the holidays are fragile with loss, the markers and cues that trigger our memories are random and ever so slightly dangerous.
The presence of absence
In this topsy-turvy year where we’re together but nothing is quite right, the loss of Lucia dances around us, ringing our celebrations with the chiaroscuro of grief. And just as Lucia was wont to do, it also casts the joy in even brighter relief. Moments that in the past may have been fleeting, irrelevant or even irritating become noted, tender, more precious.
As we gather around this year’s Christmas table, the kids are as rowdy, the adults as eager to catch up, the food as delicious as in times gone by. And as we hoard the moments and treasure this fleeting time together, our gratitude is even deeper, sprinkled with Lucia’s special magic.
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Coffee almond crunch cake
Cooking for Friends, Gordon Ramsay
Serves: 6–8
Our holiday home was always filled with the smell of Italian baking: fruit cake, panettone, crostoli. My baking is not yet as ambitious or accomplished, yet still, I love to make a sweet something on Christmas morning to have with coffee and a bit of gift giving. Once I made this easy cake from Gordon Ramsay, I knew this was the one that I’d stick with as a lasting tradition.
Ingredients
3½ oz self-raising flour (100g)
½ tsp baking powder
6 oz unsalted butter (170g)
6 oz granulated sugar (170g)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ tsp almond extract
3½ oz ground almonds (100g)
4 tbsp cooled espresso or strong coffee
Icing sugar, to dust
Crunch topping:
2 oz plain flour (60g)
3½ oz light brown or Demerara sugar (100g)
1½ oz cold unsalted butter, diced (40g)
Heat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Using a tall-sided 8-inch cake tin with a removable base, butter the entire cake tin, including the sides, and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Prepare the crunch topping: Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Set aside.
Prepare the cake batter. Sift in the flour and baking powder together and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held electric beater until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, until fully incorporated. Add the almond extract and mix well. Fold in the ground almonds, followed by half the espresso.
Fold in the sifted flour until just incorporated. Finally, fold in the remaining espresso. The batter will be somewhat runny, and that’s okay.
Spread the batter into the prepared cake tin and level with a spatula. Sprinkle the crunch topping evenly over the top.
Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before un-molding onto a wire rack. When completely cooled, dust with icing sugar, then cut into slices to serve.
Our Christmas festivities this year were filled with much love, food, and good conversations yet, for the first time, the presence of dear Lucia was missing. I to, want to believe that Lucia’s magic was sprinkled amongst our family gatherings. She will always be present in my heart especially during our family celebrations.