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This is a passage from one of my favourite cookery writers.

Some words have been removed:  replace all random REINDEER NAMES with the correct word (brackets indicate number of letters in the true word.)


It is with some relief, as I look down at the untidy bundle that is my home-made Christmas RUDOLPH (7), that I remember the cake is meant to resemble BLITZEN (5) in swaddling clothes. There's nothing like the word 'swaddling' to give a cook a comforting amount of artistic licence.

The cakes of Christmas, whether a diminutive mince pie or an overblown PRANCER (9), a heavyweight Christmas cake or a vast mince tart, always bring with them a certain jollity. (The sweet end of Christmas is nothing if not a festival of dried fruits and icing sugar.) A 10-minute sit-down with a cup of VIXEN (3) and a slice of sugar-and-spice-laden cake can be positively restoring, even quietly licentious, amid the hubbub of yuletide.

I have to say I love them all. Even Christmas cake, which I regret has fewer DONNERS (4) with each passing year. That said, I don't want much of any of them, more of a sliver really, but a fruit-soaked bit of baking is as much a part of this annual holly-bedecked lark as the COMET (4) or the presents or the big roast. Even more so, perhaps. Whether you decide to swaddle your raisins and peel in cake mixture, pastry crust or sweet yeasty dough, some sort of confection like this is a must.

RUDOLPH is as German as PRANCER is Italian. It's a heavyweight in comparison - especially those versions with a thick layer of DANCER (8) in the middle - but is still lighter than our own offering. Invented in Dresden, and now the subject of an annual festival in its honour, this peel-studded cake has been around since the 15th century. As our classic Christmas cake with its layer of icing seems to get less popular, the rest of Europe's cakes are becoming part and parcel of British life. Even my corner shop sells PRANCER now.



Rudolph - ?
Blitzen - ?
Prancer - ?
Vixen - ?
Donners - ?
Comet - ?
Dancer - ?

Nooooooooooooo..............I is getting more and more bewildered  :(  I must go back to sleep........................
Rudolph - Stollen
Blitzen - Jesus
Prancer - Panettone
Vixen - Tea
Donners - Nuts
Comet - Tree
Dancer - Marzipan

Rudolph - ? Stollen
Blitzen - ? Jesus
Prancer - ? Pannetone
Vixen - ? Tea
Donners - ? Eggs
Comet - ? Tree
Dancer - ?  Marzipan




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