Brack：慶祝女性聖誕節的水果蛋糕

The article titled 'Brack: a fruit cake to celebrate Women's Christmas' features a unique fruit cake known as Winter Brack, which is a traditional part of the Twelfth Night celebrations in Ireland. Twelfth Night marks the end of the Christmas festivities and is associated with the folklore of removing Christmas decorations to avoid bad luck for the coming year. In certain regions of Ireland, Twelfth Night is celebrated exclusively by women, who gather to enjoy the last remnants of the Christmas spirit through dining, drinking, and dancing.

The Christmas cake, rich with fruit, spices, and alcohol, and adorned with marzipan and royal icing, is a significant part of these celebrations. The tradition involves making three cakes to last the 12 days of Christmas. The first cake is cut on Christmas Eve, the second on New Year's Eve, and the third on Twelfth Night. The third cake has charms baked into it, and the person who finds them is named king or queen for the night. Another popular cake in Irish households is the tea brack, a lighter version of the Christmas cake.

The cookbook 'Bake', authored by chef and baker Graham Herterich, pays tribute to the women in his family who taught him to bake, particularly his Granny Flynn, who taught him how to make tea brack. Herterich's Aunty Mary, renowned for her Christmas cakes, also had a significant influence on him. The cookbook features a Winter Brack recipe that combines the elements of Granny Flynn's tea brack and Aunty Mary's Christmas Cake.