A very nostalgic Christmas cake | That Christmas

Paul Van Reyk tells the story of his Sri Lankan family as he bakes his beloved grandmother’s Christmas cake. #ThatChristmas

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That Christmas is a collection of stories about a Christmas like no other, told by the people who lived through them. Some of the storytellers are familiar faces, some are new.

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First, prepare the fruit. Pound of raisins. Where are my raisins? Wash and stem the sultanas. Wash and dry the currants. It's a tradition. Every December, I get down my grandmother Ada's recipe book. Page 95, Christmas Cake. Each time I make the recipe, I get catapulted back to Sri Lanka and the kitchen of my childhood. I was seven in 1959 when I was allowed to join my grandmother, Ada, and our cook, Rosalind, in making the cake. Cut the pumpkin preserve, the ginger preserve, and chow-chow in small pieces. I never stopped to wonder then what on earth "chow-chow" was, and I also didn't stop to wonder what Chinese ingredients were doing in a British fruitcake. Thick sugary syrup. It's amazing stuff. I didn't know then that there was over 500 years of history of Chinese silk merchants living and working cheek by jowl with Sri Lankans, particularly in Colombo.