CHRISTMAS CAKE.
I start to think about my Christmas baking about 10 weeks before the Big Day. Lots of delicious recipes improve by being left for a couple of months to mature and this deliciously fruity Christmas Cake is the perfect example of that.
A Christmas Cake is a very flexible cake recipe and can take all sorts of different goodies being added to change the flavour to suit your own tastes. Personally I prefer to use dried cherries, cherry jam and some spiced rum in my cakes.
If you would rather not have the hassle of making a Christmas Cake yourself then I take orders for Christmas Cakes so do get in touch by calling 07971423678 or emailing
heather@heather-brown.com
Ingredients...
10oz currants
12oz sultanas
3oz dried sour cherries
1 lemon
1 orange
2tbsp spiced rum
7oz plain flour
1tsp mixed spice
5oz butter
6oz soft brown sugar
4 eggs
1tbsp cherry jam
Method...
Line an 8" round tin with 2 good layers of baking parchment. You can also wrap the outside of the tin with brown paper too. I also recommend making a 'hat' for the cake out of baking parchment to protect the top but cut a hole in the centre to allow the steam to escape. The cake cooks for a long time in the oven and this helps not to scorch the top and side of the cake.
Preheat the oven to 140/gas mark 1.
Add the sugar and butter to a large bowl and beat them together until pale (about 2 minutes with an electric whisk). Add in the eggs gradually (alternating an egg with a spoonful of flour). Then mix in the flour.
Then add all your goodies - juice and rind of the lemon and orange, mixed spice, spiced rum, jam and all the dried fruit and mix well.
Place in the tin and bake for 2.5 hours. Check the cake every 30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin and once cold, wrap the cake in a layer of baking parchment and a layer of foil and place in an airtight container and leave until about 1 week before Christmas, when you can ice the cake however you fancy.
