If you’re eating your Christmas dessert with just a cup of tea for company, you’re doing it wrong — that is, according to the culinary queen herself, Nigella Lawson.
While there’s nothing quite like tucking into a huge slice of Christmas cake or a homemade mince pie a couple of hours after Christmas dinner, Nigella believes that half the country is going wrong by not pairing these traditional puddings with a certain side dish: a slice of cheese.
Speaking on The One Show, she told host Jermaine Jenas that there is a ‘bit of a north-south divide’ when it comes to eating Christmas cake with cheese, which is a long held tradition up in Yorkshire.
‘Even though I am a soft southerner, I am very much with the north on this,’ she said.
Over on X (formerly Twitter), Nigella confirmed that the same “absolutely” goes for mince pies too.
On which cheese is the best accompaniment, Nigella told The One Show that ‘tangy’ cheeses like Wensleydale or Lancashire made for the best pairings.
Nigella Lawson’s easy, no-fuss Christmas cake recipe
Fancy making your own Christmas cake this year? Nigella shared an easy recipe on her website.
What you’ll need:
- 775 grams best-quality mixed dried fruit
- 175 grams unsalted butter
- 250 grams dark brown muscovado sugar
- 1 x 250 grams tin sweetened chestnut puree
- 125 millilitres dark rum
- juice and zest of 1 orange
- zest of 1 lemon
- 3 large eggs (beaten)
- 250 grams plain flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Method:
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 2/150°C/130°C Fan/300°F (though you might prefer to do this after the fruits and so forth have started bubbling in their pan).
- Line the sides and bottom of a deep 20cm / 8-inch round cake tin with a double layer of greaseproof paper (parchment paper). The greaseproof should be higher than the sides of the tin.
- Wrap a double layer of brown paper (the kind used for parcels) around the outside of the tin, tying it with string. The paper should be double the height of the tin, and this gives an extra layer of insulation for the cake so that it cooks slowly. If you don’t have any brown paper, it is not absolutely necessary, but it will keep the cake from becoming too dark around the sides and top.
- Put the dried fruit, butter, sugar, chestnut purée or spread, rum and orange juice and zests into a large wide saucepan and bring to the boil gently, stirring as the butter melts. Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes, and then take it off the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes, by which time the fruits will have been soused and the mixture cooled slightly.
- Now, add the beaten eggs, flour, baking powder and spices and stir to combine.
- Pour the fruit cake mixture very carefully into the prepared cake tin.
- Place in the oven and bake for 1¾–2 hours, by which time the top of the cake should be firm and dry and will have cracked a little. If you insert a cake tester into the middle of the cake it will still come out a little sticky.
- Put the cake on a cooling rack and take off the brown paper from around the outside of the tin. It will hold its heat and take a long while to cool, but once it has cooled completely, unmould it from the tin and wrap the cake well in a layer of greaseproof paper and then foil until you want to decorate it.
- The cake will keep for a couple of months well wrapped and in a cool dark place. If you want a more boozy offering you can feed the cake with 3 tablespoons more rum as soon as it gets out of the oven. That’s to say, pierce the top of the cake several times with a fine skewer, spoon over the rum and let it sink in.
‘You want something sharp and crumbly,’ she said.
And Yorkshire folk online have confirmed that this is indeed a winning combination and in fact, not much of a revelation, with user Ruth Maxwell-Hudson saying it’s been ‘normal forever’.
‘The people of Yorkshire are responsible for many great things, but none greater than this,’ added Doulgas Hardie.
‘Christmas cake and Wensleydale,’ said Sarah Tyler. ‘A compulsory combination for me, it’s gorgeous.’
But, not everyone is on board. ‘Not convinced,’ wrote Gareth Douce.
‘Nope why ruin a nice Christmas cake with cheese,’ wrote Elaine James.
So whether you’re from the North, South – or the Midlands – which side are you on?
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
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