The first day of the year, I made a cake. I know people have all kinds of rituals to start the year, like putting travel bags outside or wearing underwear of a certain color, to attract luck. So I don't know what and if baking a cake on the first day of the year means anything at all, but perhaps I should learn to be patient. This cake has to stay 1 hour and a bit more in the oven. So. Long.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for your support and advice and specially Marcela and Zarawitta for your ideas. The doctor appointment went well, basically I only have spots of endometriosis in the bladder and behind the uterus and everything else is fine. So she used and algorithm and calculated that 25 % of people in our "statistic group" are able to conceive within 1 year. So now we wait. We will just enjoy the moment, focus on being us, really taking the moment as a present (such a cliche) and hope for the best. Anyway, here goes the family recipe for the classic Christmas fruit cake, that this year I didn't manage to make in time for the 25th, but we ate it anyway so no worries.
You will need
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate
1/2 teaspoon of grounded muscat nuts
2 tablespoons soluble coffee
1 1/2 cup mixed dried or crystallized fruit, chopped (we used figs and dates, you can use dried apricots, apples, prunes be creative here)
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup raisins
2 eggs
100 g butter, melted.
1 can (397 g) condensed milk
1 cup apple puree
1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
And here's what you should do:
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Sift 1 cup of flour with the sodium bicarbonate, coffee and muscat nuts. In a separate bowl sift the other cup of flour over the chopped dried fruit, nuts and raisins.
3/4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1 branch of cinammon
1 clove
1/4 cup Brandy.
In a small pan boil the water with the sugar, cinammon and clove for about 5 minutes. Then add the Brandy, wait until the alcohol evaporates (or not), sift and cool.
Traditionally this cake is to be prepared 1 month in advance, covered in aluminum foil and injected with syrup every week. Enjoy.
It makes me feel like a bad person, but with fruitcake and your chance of conceiving in my head, all that wants to come out are jokes about having a bun in the oven.. :S
ReplyDeleteAnyway. I'm glad the doctor's judgment of your chances at conceiving is positive. I'm also glad you get to exercise your patience with awesome things like family recipe fruitcakes. There are worse things to wait for, after all, like anxiety inducing doctor's appointments.
The cake looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteAbout the doctor's appointment I don't really understand WHY she told you those numbers. I think numbers make us more nervous in these situations. I remember my doctor telling the statistics about down syndrome right before the 12 week ultrasound and we kept focusing our fear on the negative part (what is we are in the X % that DOES have children with down syndrome?????). A friend who is very spiritual told me once that the opposite of fear is love, and that when one feels fearful about something, the way to counteract it and not attract it, is to send love to that part of ourselves, to focus in something wonderful and keep that feeling within ourselves.
@ smittenimmigrant haha, you are funny :) and thanks ! I think I am going to be baking a lot this year so many things I want to learn and recipes to try !
ReplyDelete@ Marcela, you should try it ! It is quite easy and healthy I think. And well, I don't know, to be informative. A part of me wants to know all the facts but I guess it really does not help me so I will forget about them. Your theory about fear love makes sense, I will try that, along with the focus on the wonderful :) Thanks again !