Let’s Make Julekage!
Julekage (Yule Cake) just like Great Grandma Live (Gulsdatter) Lia made.
Recipe and preparation steps come down to us by way of Live Lia’s daughters Anna and Oline who cared for my mother Agnes (Brown) Clark following the death of her mother Sørine (Lea) Brown.
Photo (above) was taken in Albuquerque, NM of my mother Agnes Brown with her Aunt’s Anna Lea and Oline Lea.
Julekage
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 cup warm water (105° to 115° f.)
- 2 pks. Yeast
- 4 cups flour
- 1 tsp. Fresh Ground Cardamom (Remove seeds from pods [white pods seem best – green pods will do] – pulverize seeds in mortar and pestle) Don’t even bother – if you don’t have the Cardamom!!! We get Cardamom here.
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup chopped candied cherries
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds
- 1/4 cup “fruit cake mix” (diced candied fruit)
Directions:
- Scald milk and add sugar butter and salt – Let stand.
- Mix yeast and warm water – Let stand 5 minutes.
- When milk mixture is luke-warm add yeast mixture.
- To this add 2 cups flour and 1 tsp. Ground cardamom, beat until smooth.
- Add just enough flour (about 2 more cups) to make a stiff dough (Robin says, “Use the least amount of flour you can get by with here – it will yield a more tender loaf”).
- Turn out on floured board and knead 10 minutes.
- Turn dough once in oil coated bowl, cover with dish towel and let rise (in warm place) until double in size (about 1 hour).
- Knead in fruit and nuts.
- After kneading in fruit and nuts – cut and shape dough into balls (My mom did this – for round loaves – either 6″ or 10″ diameter) or roll into ropes to braid a loaf (Robin likes to do this).
- Let rise (covered with dish towel) on a greased baking sheet until double in size (about 1 hour).
- Bake at 325° f. about 30 – 40 minutes until golden.
- Glaze with powdered sugar/milk/vanilla glaze while loaves are still warm (Robin says, “Add a little melted butter to glaze to keep it from being too brittle and to give it a little body”).
- Garnish with candied cherries
Comments:
- Robin wraps loaves (when cool) with plastic wrap (bag them too – to be sure they are sealed) and immediately freezes them – then we pull out a loaf as we need it.
- Robin makes three braided loaves per batch – and will make 3 to 4 batches once a year
- We slice it about a 1/4″+ thick at the table and butter it – Couldn’t live without it once a year – but use some caution, unlike lutefisk, even non-norwegians seem to quickly develop a tooth for this.
Number Of Servings: Not as many as you would hope for!
Preparation Time: Irrelevant –
Testimonial:
If visiting us around the holidays, Dwayne Olson, when given a loaf of Julekage would tenderly cradle it as he took it to a place of safe keeping. Later he would report, “It tastes just like mother used to make!”
(Dwayne Olson was also a great-grandson of Ole & Live Lia [Ole,John,Lucy])