A Story of Christmas Tradition……

Or, How to Make a Bunloaf.

This is a tale of family tradition, lost recipes and happy times.

In my home town of Liverpool, for many families – including my own – it was traditional to have Bunloaf at christmas time. Bunloaf is, as you will see, like a fruitcake. In our family it was always made, and distributed, by my Nana. Every year, we would eagerly await the foil wrapped package and try to show some restraint when it finally arrived. Then, we’d have to savour every mouthful – we only got one, and it had to go round all 5 of us. Plus, it would be a whole year until we got another!

Ingredients:

6oz soft dark brown sugar
Half pint cold water
8oz butter
1lb raisins, sultanas – or any mixed fruit
1lb self raising flour
2tbs marmalade
2tsps mixed spice
4 eggs

The ingredients are simple. You also have to remember that this recipe originated in a time when recipe books didn’t really exist – I certainly never saw one in my Nana’s house. In fact, I’m not even sure she had weighing scales!
And yet, delicious home made food would appear all year round from her kitchen. It’s funny, because many of us today have shelves lined with glossy tomes from Nigella, Jamie etc, and yet so much of our food comes out of packets! My nana didn’t own a recipe book and yet cooked everything from scratch. And she was a working mum, with few labour saving devices.
Although I will admit, in her later years she did become rather fond of Cup a Soups!

Ok, so here’s how you make the loaf.

Put the sugar, water, butter and fruit into a saucepan and bring to the boil
Boil for 10 minutes
Leave to cool, cover
and leave overnight

I don’t actually remember my Nana making her bunloaf this way – from my recollection she used the traditional method of creaming the butter and sugar and gradually beating in the eggs. Much more labour intensive. Now, when my Nan became too old to stand making bunloaves all day, the duty passed on to my mum – Nan was living with her by then and so could supervise every move. As she got older, as a safety precaution, we asked her to write down the ingredients. And she did. Unfortunately Nan died in 1993.

The next Christmas, I said to Mum – "you’ll be making the bunloaves this year, then?" The answer was yes. But, there was a problem – the carefully guarded recipe had disappeared. To this day we don’t know what happened to it. So - no bunloaf. And the end of a tradition.

This was pre – internet times, so Googling was not an option. As time went on we gradually forgot about this old family tradition. But not about our Nan, of course!

Next day, put the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl
Add the marmalade to the fruit and mix well
Add the beaten eggs and stir until combined

Can you imagine my delight when more than 10 years later – in 2004 – a friend of mine mentioned that her mum had sent her a bunloaf through the post. Doh! Why had I not thought of asking a fellow scouser if they knew of anybody with the recipe. And so, within minutes, it appeared in my inbox.

Now you’d never guess it to look at me, but I like my food. And, when I have some free time, I like to potter about in the kitchen…. and so, with my mum no longer able herself to make them, I took up the challenge of reinstating a tradition, and supplying my family with bunloaf at Christmas.

So the method was different – but the result was the same. Beautiful fruit loaf that brought back my happy christmas time memories.

Put the fruit/egg mix into the dry ingredients and beat until
thoroughly combined
Line two loaf tins with
greaseproof paper and fill
with the mixture
Bake for between 1 and 2
hours on 140 degrees

I’m not sure of the origins of this tradition, or indeed, if it’s confined to Liverpool. I do know that in Liverpool we called priests Father Bunloaf – no idea why, and google hasn’t been much help there either!

Remove from oven and allow to cool
Remove loaves from tins and wrap in foil
Freezes well
Best served slightly warmed (10 seconds in the microwave) or with butter

And here you have it – the finished bunloaf. I make around 12 -14 each Christmas to feed my family and now my husband’s family are in on the act (despite being from Leeds).

So, in essence, this is a tasty fruit cake. But to me it represents far more than that. Every slice is packed full of memories, family tradition and love.

Happy Christmas.