Keeping it sweet: Marcel (centre), his wife Mandy Choy and their son Benedict making traditional Christmas cakes and cookies at their home in Taman Hijau 2, George Town. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: For retiree Marcel Theseira, it’s all about traditions and handed-down family recipes, even if it means having to spend three hours just cutting 10 pineapples to make the jam for his tarts.
“These are recipes passed down over one or two generations in my family,” said Marcel, adding that he inherited them from his mother, who taught him how to bake cakes and tarts.
Marcel, 59, said his pineapple tarts are traditional ones which are smaller in size.
“These days, people do not want to make this size as it is difficult to shape,” he noted.
He makes his own jam despite the laborious task of cutting the pineapples and boiling them.
“When you are making pineapple jam for tarts, you have to strain it so that it has a thicker consistency,” he said.
Marcel rolls the dough and make the basket shapes while his wife fills the tarts with jam.
“My son makes the strings for the top of the tart with dough,” he said.
Indeed, it is a family affair as they huddle together to make jam tarts, sugee cake and fruit cake for Christmas. As for the cakes, Marcel insists on doing it the traditional way as well.
“This means all the dry ingredients are dried outside under the sun for at least a day if there is good sunlight,” he added.
He said many people would use the oven to dry them, “but there is a difference when it is dried under the sun. The cake can be kept longer.”He said he had a three-year-old sugee cake in his fridge, which contained almond nibs, raisins, dry sweet winter melon, orange peel, sugee, egg and butter.
“I add brandy to the cake as well, but we do make a non-alcoholic version, where we substitute the brandy with orange juice though it cannot be kept for long,” he added.
Marcel said his fruit cakes take a long time to make as well.
“We cut the dried fruits into smaller sizes and soak them in brandy for a minimum of one week.
“After that, we cook the fruits in the brandy and then add the flour and other ingredients, including nutmeg and peanut butter.
“We add sugar because it is like a preservative. The cakes can be kept for at least three years if refrigerated,” he said.
