My mother and I moved to Kingston in 1970 when I was five, to live with my Aunt Cherry. My mom was the cook and Aunt Cherry baked the Christmas cake every year. What I remember most about Christmas was waking up to the different smells early Christmas morning as our house was always the meeting place for the family dinner.

I started taking an interest in cake baking at about 10 years old, when Aunt Cherry would ask me to help by cutting the liners for the tins and helping to wash up. My reward was getting the ‘lickings’ from the mixing pans which was very delicious. As time went by I graduated to measurer and sifter, mixer, helping to cut up the fruits by hand, until I started helping with the pouring in the baking tins and placing them in the oven.

When I moved on my own at 22 years old, I decided to ask her for the recipe to bake for myself. I have done very minor tweaking over the years, based on feedback from everyone, but the recipe is largely the same. I bake for my friends and customers at my business and realised my cake was special as every year it is like there is no Christmas if they do not get my cake, both foreign and locally.

The cake is special because of the way I combine my ingredients, the Jamaican products that I hand-pick, the soaking of the fruits for 12 months minimum, and that special ingredient — love and passion — for sharing the best cake each year.