Steam Fruit Cakes

Mom has this old excise book with brown cover that she apparently wrote down all her favorite recipes, it was written in `Jawi’ though, so only mom can understand what was written. She must have kept the book for so long, that even the writing was beginning to smudge, obviously from being referred to while she was baking.

She is an expert at doing many types of cookies and cakes, but I remember for sure no one can beat her at making Steam Fruit Cakes. I have watched her making this cakes so many times, I do remember some of the methods and ingredients, and the long hours to steam the cake.

During the Eid celebration or wedding seasons, mom takes orders in making these cakes. I will help her out with beating the butter and sugar, as we did not have the cake mixer then. I watched closely how she will take all the dried fruits and toss then in flour, this way the cake will be lighter, she claimed.

She will stand by the stove to melt and brown the sugar to be used for the cake; meanwhile, she will be chatting away with me about that and this, and this and that. At this age I have already concluded that mom likes to talk and she can be very nosy, she seemed to know everything that was going on in the area.

Once the cakes were put in the steamer, mom will excuse herself at times to take a nap, or to go out and run some other errands, so I will take over the task of watching over the steamer, making sure that there will be enough water to run the 4 to 5 hours steaming time.

At times, I too will fall asleep out of boredom, while juggling myself from the TV to the kitchen. I will be terrified when I discover the familiar burning smell, it will make mom mad for sure, but Alhamdulillah, this did not happen too often.

I wonder where that recipe book is, I wish I would have appreciated the value of the information on that book a long time ago, and would have asked her to give it to me, which will now be useful for my own Chef Diva. But as the norm, you wish for something that is nearly impossible when you realize that you will never get it (do I make sense?).

Mom no longer bakes, you can see signs of the long hours of standing on her legs, both her knees are getting weaker, she even have to sit down while doing her prayers.

Mom’s Steam Fruit Cakes which was so proudly adored by many family before will only be another chapter of my life with her.