What’s Your Cake?
Christmas Fruit Cake or Bánh Tét?
It depends.
It depends on where you live, your hemisphere orientation and whether your calendar is Solar (Gregorian) or Lunar (Vietnamese).
It could also be both—as it is for me.
The Fruitcake Option
I am a devout fruitcake fan.
But not just any of the assortment that are baked or bought.
I am particular.
My fruit cake must be rich ‘n dark, baked with seedless black raisins, amber-coloured chewy sultanas, glacé orange peel and cherries – red and green, whole – dried cranberries, a small measure of treacle sugar, unsalted butter, all blended with stoneground cake flower.
It must be moist. An overbaked, dried out fruit cake is worthless to me. So, the temperature and timing must be right.
The upper surface must be a consistent chestnut brown and the inside a dark honey shade.
Once out of the oven and cooled, while still in the pan, the final ingredient is added—dashes of ten-year old South African brandy; not too much, not too little. Over the course of three days 330 millilitres of tawny liquid is carefully drizzled over the entire surface.
Only a round baking pan will do.
The cake must brew in the pan over three days; thereafter it can be prised out of the pan onto a cake tray.
When the cake is ready to be savoured, slice it from the centre in even wedges with a sharp-pointed serrated knife. The wedges must keep their shape and integrity until served.
When the first wedge is gently tugged away from its space, if the recipe has been followed, there will be a faint waft of fruit and liquor, just enough, never overbearing—just right.
That is how a perfect recipe works!
The Bánh Tét Savory Option
I am a Westerner by birth, so I know more about fruit cake than Bánh Tét savoury cake, but I do have some inside information…
Bánh Tét (round glutinous rice cake) is a traditional cake enjoyed by southern Vietnamese people on the occasion of the Lunar New Year [29 January 2025]. It is considered a variant of Bánh Chung (square glutinous rice cake), which is more popular in the north.
The Tét cake is cylindrical, made with sticky rice and filled with pork fat and beans seasoned with black pepper and shallots. It is wrapped in banana leaves and as a result, the sticky rice takes on a pale green color and a slightly leafy taste. Even though the cake is available all year, it is still considered a New Year treat.
The cake is served with pickled scallions, vegetable pickles and fish sauce. After cooking, the banana leaves are removed and the cake is sliced into wheel-shaped servings. It may also be sliced and fried to a delicious chewy crispness.
To prevent the banana leaf from coming apart during cooking, a Tét cake is usually wrapped several times with a length of ribbon before steaming.
The process of making Tét cakes is time consuming, thus providing an opportunity for family members to bond and come together to celebrate the holiday spirit.
Either Way, the Recipe is the Right Way
The Influential Leadership System has a recipe for leading—the Leadership Architecture.
To bake the best fruitcakes and round glutinous rice cakes each time and every time, there must be a failsafe recipe.
It is the same for Influential Leadership.
Proper leadership is not a function of luck, personality, position or title, but that of a guaranteed recipe, which includes:
- Clarity of leadership Purpose that drives the intention, process and outcome.
- Contextual appreciation of the situation at hand—all elements are connected.
- Deep personal belief in one’s own capabilities to succeed and meticulous adherence to the process of thinking matters through to direct one’s choices and actions.
- The application of all the necessary ingredients in their right measures—Philosophy, Principles and Attributes.
- Perfect alignment of the outcome with the intention.
All the elements must work together to ensure that the result is the desired cake—fruit or Bánh Tét—every time.
The test is in the eating!
So, whatever cake you prefer, ensure it is baked according to a failsafe recipe—don’t settle for less.
Get it Right Every Time!
The Influential Leadership Way
To change your world and thé world for the better, the Leadership REVolution recipe is at your service.
If you have already completed the Alpha Programme but would like to restore your Leadership energy, let me know, I shall gladly give you browsing time. Alpha has been revised and refreshed for 2025, so you will find new scenes on your Way.
If you have not yet taken the Influential Leadership journey, we’d be delighted to share our recipe with you! Make a start by browsing through the Karoo website; it summarises the RECIPE.
Either way, feel free to chat with me via my mobile, email, Facebook or Instagram accounts.
Influential Leadership is never on vacation, so let’s get going right away to get it right every time!
Regards,
Colin @ Karoo
Influential Leadership: The Recipe for Success!
Leadership Note: 5224.231224
e: colind@karoo.world
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