Every Christmas Day as a little girl, I would run through the dining room so recklessly, that the place settings and light fixtures rattled like sleigh bells. My mission was to sneak a taste of my mother’s “Christmas Party Cake” perched high on the dining room hutch. I wouldn’t dare cut a piece of the cake, or swipe a bite with a fork, oh no. Instead, I would drag a dining chair up against the hutch, climb up, and “secretly” poke my finger into the frosting. By the time the carloads of family arrived for Christmas supper, something was clearly amiss. The white, fluffy frosting around the entire cake would be dotted with poke marks, like footprints dashing through the snow.
Christmas Party Cake was the centerpiece of our holiday dessert spread, year-after-year. Made with three bouncy layers of old-fashioned pound cake, stacked between a generous helping of whipped vanilla buttercream, this cake was simply divine. Moreover, the richness of the poundcake allowed for smaller slices, so in the event an extra cousin or friend-of-the-family joined, there was plenty of cake to go around. However, what made this dessert truly stand out had little to do with how many guests it served, or even how delicious it tasted. Rather, what made this cake so outstanding was how downright delightful it looked.
Covered in a pearl-clutching display of holiday cake decorations, Christmas Party Cake livened up the dessert table in a very special way. Above the three-tiers of cake and buttercream was every Christmas-themed cake topper imaginable. From Santa on his sleigh, to Mrs. Claus, tiny trees, reindeer, snowmen, and string lights, this cake was a winter wonderland on a cake stand. The more toppers, the more razzle-dazzle, the merrier. Not quite tacky, just very merry, indeed!
I would give anything to go back and share one more of these holiday cakes with the family members from our Christmases way-back-when. Oh what fun it was to sit, eat, and laugh with grandparents and loved ones, some whom have now passed on. However, one of the magnificent things about a great family recipe is that it connects us indefinitely with our past. The same flavors, the same comfort and joy.
This year I will serve a Christmas Party Cake at my own home in honor of those former Christmas gatherings. My mother, “Bobbie” now lives with us in Charleston, and will celebrate with my husband Chris and me, along with our children, Madison, Molly, and George. And as this wonderfully whimsical cake sits on my dining room hutch this Christmas Day, I will surely mosey in and poke my finger right into that delicious frosting, just as I did so many years ago.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
Emily Mingledorff
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