We’re home for the holidays!!! The kids have been with my parents for three days and the hubs and I joined them last night, along with my brother and his girlfriend. Our Christmas this year will be spent at my parent’s B&B in Niagara on the Lake and while there’s no sign of snow we’re still hoping for a white Christmas. As I mentioned a while back, I’m looking forward to lounging in my PJs, watching Netflix and relaxing while my mom cooks and looks after us. I mean, that’s what moms are there for, right? She even had a Breudher cake waiting for us when we walked in the door, so she knows what’s expected of her 😉

The holidays are a time definitely for Moms, Dads, Grandmothers, and Grandfathers to dust off the family cookbooks, revealing those secret hand-me-down recipes that have been cherished for decades, so it shouldn’t surprise you that we were greeted with this scene as we walked in last night, a Sri Lankan Breudher cake just like the one we used to eat growing up. And if you want to make one yourself, read on.

Breudher is a yeasty cake that many Sri Lankan ‘Burghers‘ make during the holiday season. While neither of my parents are Burghers, my mom’s side does have some Dutch blood and many Burgher recipes have been passed on to my mom through her paternal uncle’s in-laws. The best Breudher is dense, soft and moist and I was pleased to see that our Little Monkey and Baby Boy were eager for second helpings!

As we prep for Christmas day, I wanted to share my mom’s Dutch Breudher Cake recipe (I painstakingly typed it up from her scribbles). She has modified it a bit to make it easier for non-bakers like me to make it and said that there are different versions of Breudher and that this is a desner version (you could also make it ‘fluffier’ by adding yeast instead of baking powder and it would be closer to a Panetone that way)

Breudher Recipe

What you will need:

• 750 flour
• 450ml warm water
• 500g sugar
• 250g butter
• 500g sultanas (yellow raisins)
• 20 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp milk

Step by Step Instructions

1. Knead the flour and 1 tablespoon of butter with water into a smooth dough.
2. Butter the Breudher pan (we use the bunt pan in North America) and sprinkle the pan with a handful of sultanas.
3. Add egg yolks into dough and beat well for 20 minutes. It you don’t have a stand mixer and are using a hand mixer, it helps to first mix it all by hand before using the hand mixer.
4. Add remaining butter, sugar and 2/3 of the sultanas and mix well.
5. Lastly, dissolve the baking soda in the milk and pour into the dough mixture.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan filling it 3/4 of the way.
7. Toss the remaining sultanas on the top and let the pan sit so that the dough rises for about half an hour (ideally in sunlight).
8. Bake in a preheated oven (180 C) for 1  to 1.5 hours.
9. Let the cake cool and gently turn out of the pan before placing the Breudher upside down on a plate and serve with Edam cheese or butter.

For Sri Lankans, Christmas is filled with many treats and tomorrow is going to be spent making our famous Christmas cake. Today my mom baked the famous Breudher for a warm welcome. Many who know my mom know our inside joke about her eating a block of butter a day. Okay, her habit isn’t that bad but she does lather on a thick layer to every slice of bread and cake she eats. The ONLY way I eat Breudher is with a healthy spread of creamy butter. It’s one of my favourite holiday foods.