Traditionally, the Christmas cake is baked about a month in advance, and some families enjoy the feeling of festivity creeping up on them when the house is full of these divine smells, spices, cinnamon, dried fruits and alcohol….its time for Christmas again. Here is a simple yet fragrant and tasty recipe for the Christmas cake.
To begin with, soak these fruits a few weeks in advance, to make the fruits plumper and flavored with alcohol.
500g sultanas
200g raisins
200g glacé cherries, halved
110 currants
110 cut mixed peel
110g roughly chopped dried figs,
110g roughly chopped dried apricots,
110g roughly chopped dried pitted prunes,
1 small orange, grated zest and juice
150ml brandy
Soak the fruits in the brandy, and over the next few weeks, mix with a wooden spatula everyday, turning around to make sure every piece gets well soaked in the brandy.
For the cake:
255g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g dark muscovado sugar
5 medium eggs
300g plain flour
200g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
Line the base of a 9-inch cake tin with glazed paper and preheat at 150 deg C.
Beat together the butter (at room temperature) and sugar till the mix is pale and fluffy, then add flour in small quantities, just stirring it in, taking care not to BEAT it in. Make sure every stirring engulfs air into the mixture. Add the fruit mixture and the nuts, again, fold it in gently. Then spread out the mixture onto the bake tin, leveling with a spatula or large spoon. Put the tin into the oven and bake for about 3 hours at low heat, taking acre not to brown it too much.
Once the cake is done, take it out and cool. The next day, make a few holes with a skewer and over the next few weeks (till Christmas), feed it with a bit of alcohol – sherry or brandy every 5 days.
all baking......mmmmmmm smells really yummy
oh and i dont own scales of any kind so its all really guess work
but the mixture was super tastey
bou x