Adam runs a small B&B in Herefordshire and is also a craftsman. His craft-related blog, The Craft Bench, can be seen here

Thursday 13 December 2012

CHRISTMAS CAKE

I don't really 'do' Christmas, but this year I'm seeing my brother and his family, so thought it best to make a cake...

I've never been a lover of the traditional 'black' xmas cakes, so my recipe has always been based on a Dundee cake.  However, it's ten years at least since I last made one, so I've decided to zap the recipe into something a bit more interesting. The dried fruits mentioned are simply what was available locally...

2012's CHRISTMAS CAKE:

Roughly 100g each of:
Dried apricots,  dried peaches,  crystalised pineapple,  dried figs,  glace cherries, chopped dates,  hazel nuts,  walnuts,  raisins and sultanas (1kg in all).

Also:
500g softened butter,  500g dark brown sugar,  6 eggs (free-range, naturally!),  2 tsp vanilla extract,  pinch of salt,  300g plain flour,  300g self-raising flour,  100g ground almonds,  grated rind of one lemon and a generous 2 tsp mixed spice.

Day 1:

Mix together the fruits and nuts in a large bowl, chopping into small pieces if need be… Moisten with alcohol and cover tightly.

Day 2:
Add more alcohol to the fruit if you feel it needs/deserves it - stir… and inhale deeply. Remember to cover the bowl again! You can repeat the exercise a number of times if you like...

Day 3:
Turn the oven on to 140°C (gas mark 2?  I don’t have a gas cooker, so this is guessing a bit). Double-line an 8” square or 9” round cake tin and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar and beat in the eggs, followed by the vanilla and the salt.
Stir about ¼ of the flour into the fruit mix along with the ground almonds, lemon peel and spice. Stir the rest into the creamed mix, combining well. Add in the fruit and mix up very thoroughly - now do you see why I said a 'large' bowl?!  If it all seems a bit stiff, add a little milk.

Pour into the prepared cake tin, place that on a sheet of brown paper on a baking tray and bake for 1 hour at 140°C.

Lower the temperature to 130°C (gas 1?), open the oven door very gently and cover the top of the cake with brown paper. Cook for a further 2-2½ hours, until a skewer stuck in the centre comes out clean.

Turn the oven off and leave the door ajar for about 10 minutes, then take the cake out.  Leave it a while longer, till it’s warm rather than hot and souse with alcohol. Leave to cool in the tin.
Finally, remove from the tin, wrap in greaseproof paper and foil and leave it alone for a couple of weeks to mature.

Marzipan and icing I leave up to you…

ENJOY!

Here's the cake glazed up with apricot jam (note I've trimmed the crown of the cake off to make a flatter area for decorating)

Here's the same cake covered in marzipan.  I'll leave it for a week or so for the marzipan to dry out a bit.

Then it'll be a matter of rediscovering my plastering skills!

...and here's one I made earlier - twenty years earlier in fact!  The delightful little figures came from the wonderful 'Christmas Shop' in Lechlade, Gloucestershire.



No comments:

Post a Comment