The British are famous for their dry humor; they even apply it to naming foods. Here are a delicious dessert and a heart-warming beverage cleverly named and easily made.

The British Isles have long been renowned for the odd phrases they often use. “Sorry. Didn’t hear you; must be my cloth ears,” is one. If you think about it, you’ll realize that stuffed animals have cloth ears, and they can’t hear. In similar manner, they have named some of their more delectable Christmas treats. Here are two to make your cloth ears perk up and listen, and tickle your sweet tooth, as well.

Tipsy Treat for a "Happy Christmas"

Tipsy Cake is so named not because it can cause a tad of drunkenness (although it does contain spirits), but because it may appear to lean when fully assembled. It may look, in the British idiom, tipsy.

You'll need these ingredients to make a Tipsy Cake:

1. A sponge cake, bought or home-made.
2. Jam of choice; strawberry, raspberry, peach and apricot seem most popular with those who like the cake.
3. 1/2 cup port wine, ruby or tawny, or the same amount of cream sherry.
4. 1 cup of boiled custard, purchased or home-made.

A tipsy cake is not so much created as assembled. To assemble the cake:

• Cut across your cake, dividing it into two or three layers, or more if it is a very lofty cake.
• Place first layer in the bottom of a deep-sided dish or trifle bowl.
• Sprinkle this layer with a portion of the port or sherry.
• Spread a thin layer of your chosen jam across the top of the layer, and add the next layer.
• Soak each layer with wine, spreading jam on all but the top layer. If you find you need to use more port or sherry, that's fine, too.
• Then top with boiled custard, homemade or made from an authentic British mix you can buy in gourmet shops or by mail order.
• Allow to 'ripen' for an hour or two before serving, and be advised that the cake may well have fallen over in the bowl--hence it's name, and will, at the very least, be messy to serve

Take care not so use so much liquid that the cake gets sodden.

A close-fitting Trifle dish may keep the tipsy cake from toppling; any other vessel will probably help your cake live up to its name.

Hot Ale Drink to Ease Into Good Cheer

You might want to serve the dessert with some Lambs Wool. The beverage originated in the Middle Ages. The name is derived from the roasted apple that floats to the top of the punch bowl. While there are many recipes, a simple one, adapted for American tastes by an American-British cook, is this one:

You will need:

4 soft eating apples, preferably not Macintosh

Several whole cloves

"Winter spices" on hand, including ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice

Cinnamon stick broken into pieces

Brown sugar

6 U.S. pints dark ale

To make:

• Cut tops off apples and sprinkle with two tablespoons brown sugar.
• Bake apples at 400 degrees F. until quite done. Scoop out flesh and reserve.
• Warm the ale and a combination of the spices, about half a teaspoon each or to taste,over low heat. Do not allow to boil.
• Taste; if too tart, add brown sugar and dissolve.
• When you are satisfied with the flavor, pour into mugs and top with a dollop of apple.

In England, the mugs are very large and the apple piled on quite thickly, with little spoons provided for eating the apple. You may want to be more 'ceremonial' about that, however, using the 'wool' as a garnish. In the Middle Ages, when the drink and others like it developed, the apple would have been an important portion of the sustenance needed to see people through a long, cold, "fruit-challenged" winter.

Sources:

(1995) A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Favourite Christmas Recipes: Traditional Seasonal Fare. (Undated) Sevenoaks, England; Salmon Press.

Woman’s Own Cook Book. (1964) London, England: George Newnes Ltd.