Persimmons, spices and plenty of booze make for a warm, celebratory holiday cake.
Desserts are always tricky at Christmas. You can go the bûche de Noël route or serve lots of little cookies, but those are pretty involved undertakings, and well, you just roasted a giant porchetta and already made fruitcake. You’re tired. I’m tired. Everyone’s just eaten a big meal, so keep dessert simple.
For that, I turn to pudding. But it’s pudding in the British manner, meaning it’s a warm, soft and gooey cake. And for my Southern-ish, Italian-ish dinner, that means resuscitating an old Southern dessert that brings back memories from when I was a child — because that was the last time anyone’s had it —Made with puréed, ripe Hachiya persimmons, it’s an almost spoonable cake that’s often eaten warm out of a baking pan and topped with a boozy sauce or ice cream.
For my take, I still serve it warm, but I bake it in a Bundt pan to give it some shape beyond a blob of brown dug out of a pan. I take down the sugar — though, I won’t lie, it’s still plenty sweet — and get rid of most of the usual spices, save for nutmeg and a lighter handling of cinnamon. Orange and lemon zests and juice help perk up the cake batter even more, helping to balance the rich sweetness of the persimmons.
It’s the kind of dessert I’ll plate at the table or compose casually in a deep bowl for my guests if they move to the couch — we’ll see how the night goes. If the warm cake, booze and cream do their job, my guests will sleep peacefully once they make it home.
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