This recipe is a seriously good one…and I don’t even like Christmas cake! With December just a day away, it’s still not too late to make your own Christmas cake and this recipe is easy and foolproof. The earlier you make it – the better it tastes, but by pre soaking the fruit, you can quick start the flavour process. This recipe can be used for any kind of celebration fruit cake – weddings, christenings etc.
Ingredients:
- 500g Raisins
- 500g Sultanas
- 200g Currants
- 150g Glace Cherries
- Brandy 150ml + more for soaking pre-Christmas
- 175g Butter
- 175g Dark Muscovado Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 110g Ground Almonds
- 100g Flaked Almonds
- 1 Orange (juice and zest)
- 300g Plain Flour
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Mixed Spice
Method
- Ideally 1 week before you want to make the cake (but straight before if you’re short on time), put the raisins, sultanas, currants and chopped cherries in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 15 minutes until they start to plump up. Drain well and pour 150ml brandy over the fruit and cover. Keep in a cool dry place until you’re ready to make the cake – if you’re able to leave it for a week, remember to stir daily.
- When you’re ready to make the cake, grease a 23cm loose bottomed cake tin, and line with baking paper.
- Preheat the oven to 150 degrees c
- In a large bowl or in a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition.
- Stir in the ground almonds, flaked almonds, orange zest and juice – the mixture may curdle but don’t panic – it will be fine!
- Sift in the flour, salt and spice and fold in using a large metal spoon.
- Stir in the mixed fruit, including all the liquid…you’ll need muscles for this bit as there’s a fair weight in fruit to mix in!
- Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 2 1/2-3 hours. Check after 2 hours and cover if the cake is becoming too dark. A skewer will come out clean once it’s done.
- Cool on a wire rack completely and store by wrapping in cling film, the greaseproof paper and store in an airtight container.
- If you have time before Christmas, ‘feed’ the cake with brandy as often as you like. It’s best to pierce the cake with a long skewer and then carefully drizzle the brandy over the surface until it soaks in.
- I prefer fondant icing to royal icing, but thats totally up to you. A couple of days before Christmas, I roll out my marzipan, brush the cake with melted apricot jam and cover the cake with marzipan and leave to dry out for a couple of hours. Then, brush with melted apricot jam again and cover with rolled fondant icing. Decorate as you wish.
x
