Tuesday 8 December 2015

Traditional Christmas Cake Recipe


Hey, so although most people don’t like traditional Christmas cake for those of you who do like Christmas cake, here is my ultimate recipe:
 
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours and 10 minutes
1kg mixed dried fruit (use a mix of raisins, sultanas, currants, cherries, cranberries)

Zest and juice of an orange and lemon


150ml brandy, Sherry, whisky or rum, plus extra for feeding
250g pack butter, softened

200g light soft brown sugar

175g plain flour

100g ground almonds

½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

100g flaked almonds

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

First off, put the dried fruit, zests and juice, alcohol, butter and sugar in a large pan set over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 mins.

Tip the fruit mixture into a large bowl and leave to cool for 30 mins.

Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2.

Line a deep 20cm cake tin with a double layer of baking parchment, then wrap a double layer of newspaper around the outside – tie with string to secure.

Add the remaining ingredients to the fruit mixture and stir well, making sure there are no pockets of flour.

Tip into your prepared tin, level the top with a spatula and bake in the centre of the oven for 2 hrs.

Remove the cake from the oven, poke holes in it with a skewer and spoon over 2 tbsp of your chosen alcohol. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.

To store, peel off the baking parchment, then wrap well in cling film.

Feed the cake with 1-2 tbsp alcohol every fortnight, until you ice it. Don’t feed the cake for the final week to give the surface a chance to dry before icing.

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas cake recipe for you to bake and enjoy, if you know of any other Christmas cake alternatives or other recipes that people could use then please feel free to leave them in the comments below, come back tomorrow for another post. That’s all for now,

Bella xxx

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