Buckhams Cordials was a Queenstown company that was established in 1870 as the Wakatip Brewery by William Lovell Davis and Thomas Surman. Their partnership dissolved in 1873, and the brewery and cordial factory continued to be run by Davis until 1880, when he left to take up mining with his brother James. James Read was granted the brewery\u2019s lease and ran the business until his death in 1888. His wife Alice then continued the business until 1901 when management was taken over by Charles Davis, son of William Lovell Davis. In 1908 William Lovell Davis died and the brewery was purchased by his daughter Mrs H.C. Buckham. In November 1915 the brewery side of the business was closed to avoid charges from new beer duty regulations, and the company continued as a cordial manufacturer under Buckham family management. It was eventually sold in 1969 by Jim Buckham to R. Powley and Co. Ltd of Dunedin.<\/p>\n The Christmas cake recipe requires the overnight soaking of mixed fruit in a seven ounce bottle of Buckhams Ginger Ale. This was easily substituted for a modern supermarket brand, but it obviously remains unclear what difference this made to the eventual flavour. Perhaps for today\u2019s bakers, the most unusual ingredient is one tablespoon of glycerine. An internet search revealed it is used to keep cakes moist and icing soft, and a bottle was eventually tracked down in a local health food store.<\/p>\n The cake was made following the standard instructions but the recipe lacked any directions about decoration. I decided to make a royal icing that also incorporated glycerine (using a Mary Berry recipe), since I now possess a bottle to be used up! This cake is not suitable for the dietary requirements of all Hocken staff as it contains ten ounces of butter and six eggs, so I also baked a vegan version. This involved the swapping of ordinary flour for self-raising flour, besides the exclusion of butter and eggs, and a lemon juice\/icing sugar glaze for decoration.<\/p>\n Staff feedback was positive with most enjoying the cake\u2019s taste and texture, and the royal icing in favour of the more common almond icing. One person rated both cakes a very generous 20 out of 20, and it was gratifying to hear another admit \u201cI don\u2019t really like fruit Christmas cakes, but this is an exception \u2013 lovely\u201d. However, as my own Christmas tradition is to make my Christmas cake on Labour Day and feed it weekly with rum to ensure a moist texture and delicious flavour, I would have to concur with the staff member who suggested that this cake \u201cpossibly needs to age more?\u201d The texture may have been improved by the addition of more than just the prescribed tablespoon of glycerine. I also would have preferred an increased ratio of spices, with the possible addition of ginger since, as one Hocken staff member noted, the flavour from the ginger ale did not come through.<\/p>\n It is always interesting to learn more about our early business and food history. The ephemera collection includes numerous examples of local advertising that also illustrate the perpetuation of our cultural traditions.<\/p>\n Sources<\/p>\n Leckie, Frank G. Otago\u2019s Breweries Past & Present.<\/em> Dunedin, Otago Heritage Books, 1997.<\/p>\n \u201cQueenstown Identity Dies\u201d Otago Daily Times, <\/em>13 July 1988, page 13.<\/p>\n What else have we cooked up?<\/strong><\/p>\n Stirring up the stacks #7: Virginia pudding<\/a><\/p>\n Stirring up the stacks #6: Pumpkin pie<\/a><\/p>\n Stirring up the stacks #5: Sauerkraut roll<\/a><\/p>\n Stirring up the stacks #4: A \u201cdelicious cake from better times\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Stirring up the stacks #3: Bycroft party starters<\/a><\/p>\n Stirring up the stacks #2 The parfait on the blackboard<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/files\/2020\/12\/Xmas-Cake-Recipe-and-cordial-merge-image-1024x621.jpg\")
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