Ever since our children were very young each year we would make our Christmas cake together as a family, playing Christmas songs at top volume, eating chocolate coins and watching festive films while it cooked, over the years we have been joined by cousins and aunts, boyfriends and girlfriends, all having fun while the aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg and spice filled the air.
This is our recipe - we have cobbled it together over the years, changing and adding ingredients along the way, its delicious, we always make two cakes, one for the holiday and one for the cold New Year.
INSTRUCTIONS
Grease and double line with parchment the base and sides of your tin, the paper should rise about 4cm higher than the top of your tin.
Put the sugar, butter, fruit, orange juice and brandy into a large saucepan and bring to the boil , stir until the butter has melted (we always cut the butter into small chunks first, reduce the heat a little and let it bubble for about ten minutes, until the fruit is fat and the liquid glossy.
Leave to cool (enough time to watch about half an hour of the Christmas film!)
Heat the oven
Whisk the eggs, then add the almonds, sifted flour, baking powder and spices, carefully combine, making sure there are no pockets of flour.
Stir and make a wish.
Add the mix into the tin, and flatten out slightly.
Wrap the tin on the outside with a double thickness of brown paper or newspaper and tie with string, ideally it should be one inch higher than the paper in the tin
Cook - watch film and enjoy the festive smell filling your home.
IMPORTANT - because of the fruit and brown sugar it can burn a little on the top, consider loosely covering with a sheet of tin foil at the 1.5hr stage to avoid this, alternatively just cut the top off before decorating.
The cake is cooked when the skewer comes out clean, as soon as its out the oven skewer the top of the cake and pour 4-5 tablespoons of brandy/sherry over the top (optional) then leave to cool, once cooled take out of the tin but leave the baking paper on, one of the layers of paper used on the base can be put onto the top at this point. You can of course feed the cake with brandy or sherry once a week right up to the point of eating it.
Wrap with tinfoil and put into an airtight container until ready to decorate.
Let the Festive season begin!
We are giving you the ingredient list for three different sized cake tins - see below.
SULTANAS |
350g |
700g |
1kg |
RAISINS |
110g |
225g |
350g |
GLACE CHERRIES |
50g |
110g |
175g |
MIXED PEEL (optional) |
50g |
110g |
175g |
GLACE CHERRIES |
50g |
110g |
175g |
BRANDY/OR SHERRY |
60ml |
120ml |
180ml |
BUTTER |
110g |
225g |
350g |
DARK MUSCAVADO SUGAR |
90g |
195g |
300g |
ORANGE ZEST GRATED |
1⁄3 teaspoon |
1 teaspoon |
11⁄2 teaspoon |
LEMON ZEST GRATED |
1⁄2 teaspoon |
1 teaspoon |
11⁄2 teaspoon |
ORANGE JUICE |
1⁄4 medium orange |
1⁄2 medium orange |
1 medium orange |
LARGE EGGS |
2 |
4 |
6 |
PLAIN FLOUR |
250g |
350g |
525g |
MIXED SPICE |
1⁄2 teaspoon |
1 teaspoon |
11⁄2 teaspoon |
CINNAMON |
Pinch |
1⁄4 teaspoon |
1⁄4 teaspoon |
NUTMEG WHOLE (GRATED) |
Pinch |
1⁄4 teaspoon |
1⁄4 teaspoon |
GROUND ALMONDS |
30g |
60g |
120g |
SALT |
Pinch |
Pinch |
1⁄4 teaspoon |
BAKING POWDER |
1⁄4 teaspoon |
1⁄2 teaspoon |
1 teaspoon |
TIN: ROUND |
18” |
23” |
25.5” |
TEMPERATURE |
150°C/gas mark two |
150°C/gas mark two |
150°C/gas mark two |
COOKING TIME |
2 - 21⁄2 hours |
3 - 31⁄2 hours |
4 - 41⁄2 hours |