The 25^th of December is a public holiday in Pakistan – in memory of Jinnah the founder of the country. During the last week of Advent carol singers would have gone from house to house and given money by the family of each home visited – this would have been given to the church or donated to a charity.  In the Christian areas, homes were decorated, complete with a star on the roof and the streets in the area would have been lit up at night. Crib competitions are held at times and Christmas cakes are baked and exchanged. On Christmas Eve

a procession may even take place(like the one in Lahore from St. Anthony’s Church to the Cathedral), the churches would have been packed for midnight or vigil-mass services and after that there will be fireworks to welcome Bara Din (Christmas Day). Christians go to church for a special service and will exchange gifts, wear new clothes and visit friends. As in India, Christians make up a very small part of the population – there are only 5 million Christians which, in a country with a population of over 162 million, is not a lot. On Bara Din Christians, dressed in their best, go to Church again for the celebrations. They could stay in the Church courtyard where they spend hours tasting food from a host of different stalls after which they will go home and celebrate with their immediate family and close friends or even visit their relatives.

Ingredients

• 125 ml finest yellow cornmeal
• 125 ml all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 125 g unsalted butter
• 65 g almond paste, cut in small cubes
• 310 g icing sugar
• Additional icing sugar for dusting
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 large lemon, grated zest only
• 2 eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 100 ml sour cream

Method

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
• Grease a round cake tin well and flour it, shaking off excess flour.
• Beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth, reduce the speed to low and slowly add the icing sugar, mixing thoroughly until everything is well combined and is light and fluffy.
• Raise the speed to high and add the vanilla extract, the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Reduce the speed to medium and add the sour cream and dry ingredients, mixing until everything is just incorporated.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and smooth the surface with a spatula.
• Bake in the lower third of the oven until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan – about 35 minutes.
• Transfer pan to a wire rack and allow to cool – remove and dust with icing sugar.