Christmas cake is not everyone's cup of tea (or what they want to have with their cup) but we love it here and it lasts so long you can keep on sustaining yourself on it even after the festivities. Actually it isn't usually cut in our house until after Christmas - it is just enjoyed as part of the decorations. This being Yorkshire it is often eaten with a slice of crumbly white Wensleydale cheese. I was once offered that combination as a pre Christmas dinner morsel in a Yorkshire house.
There are lots of recipes for this traditional cake and lots of variations. If you keep to the weight of fruit in proportion to the other ingredients, you can vary the fruit to your own taste, even add exotics like dried apricots or preserved ginger. This recipe is a straightforward one except I don't put in as many currants as Delia or Mary Berry do. I have altered the proportions to increase the moisture without losing the darkness which lots of currants does give you.
Making this cake takes me several days as I assemble the ingredients first, then chop the peel, leave the fruit to soak, put the butter out to soften, prepare the tin and then finally decide to embark on the mixture. This isn't because it is difficult but you don't want to find you haven't got something vital at the last minute and also you do need a stretch of time when the oven will be free and you are in the mood for all that mixing.
There is a benefit of being such an avid reader of recipes as I am, as I am always learning something new. I have recently read that adding glycerine to a Victoria Sponge mixture increases its moisture and also that a few drops in the fruit for a Christmas cake does the same. I keep glycerine in for royal icing, so I am going to try it this time.
Christmas Cake
8'' round tin or 7'' square one, lined with double greaseproof and then with a brown paper collar on the outside
Oven at No 1
14 oz sultanas
8oz raisins
6oz currants
2oz mixed peel - that you have chopped from whole
2oz cherries in quarters
Put all these into a large bowl, add 1/4 pint brandy (or sherry) and leave for up to 3 days, stirring occassionally
8oz P flour
1/4tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp mixed spice - sieve the flour with these in advance
8oz butter
8oz dark brown sugar
1dssp black treacle
4 eggs
Rind 1 lemon
Rind 1 orange
1oz whole almonds chopped
1oz ground almonds - add these both to the soaked fruit when you are ready to make the cake. If you like lots of crunchy nuts, put in 2 oz almonds and leave out the ground ones.
There are lots of recipes for this traditional cake and lots of variations. If you keep to the weight of fruit in proportion to the other ingredients, you can vary the fruit to your own taste, even add exotics like dried apricots or preserved ginger. This recipe is a straightforward one except I don't put in as many currants as Delia or Mary Berry do. I have altered the proportions to increase the moisture without losing the darkness which lots of currants does give you.
Making this cake takes me several days as I assemble the ingredients first, then chop the peel, leave the fruit to soak, put the butter out to soften, prepare the tin and then finally decide to embark on the mixture. This isn't because it is difficult but you don't want to find you haven't got something vital at the last minute and also you do need a stretch of time when the oven will be free and you are in the mood for all that mixing.
There is a benefit of being such an avid reader of recipes as I am, as I am always learning something new. I have recently read that adding glycerine to a Victoria Sponge mixture increases its moisture and also that a few drops in the fruit for a Christmas cake does the same. I keep glycerine in for royal icing, so I am going to try it this time.
Christmas Cake
8'' round tin or 7'' square one, lined with double greaseproof and then with a brown paper collar on the outside
Oven at No 1
14 oz sultanas
8oz raisins
6oz currants
2oz mixed peel - that you have chopped from whole
2oz cherries in quarters
Put all these into a large bowl, add 1/4 pint brandy (or sherry) and leave for up to 3 days, stirring occassionally
8oz P flour
1/4tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp mixed spice - sieve the flour with these in advance
8oz butter
8oz dark brown sugar
1dssp black treacle
4 eggs
Rind 1 lemon
Rind 1 orange
1oz whole almonds chopped
1oz ground almonds - add these both to the soaked fruit when you are ready to make the cake. If you like lots of crunchy nuts, put in 2 oz almonds and leave out the ground ones.
- Start with creaming the soft butter and the sugar - this is the only hard work part as you need it to change to a lighter colour and to feel light. A hand held mixer helps.
- Beat in the black treacle, warmed slightly.
- Beat in the beaten eggs a little at a time. If it curdles don't worry too much but do beat in a spoonful of the weighed flour near the end.
- Now mix in the fruit and flour plus all the rest, in turns, some at a time, stirring well but trying to keep it light. Taste and add a little more nutmeg if you think it needs it.
- Spoon carefully into the tin, smooth the top and add a little depression with your spoon in the middle.
- Put a piece of brown paper with a hole in it on top of the cake. Bake on a low shelf for 4hrs and up to 4&1/2 to 4 3/4 hours leaving it alone until very near the end. Test with a skewer and also listen - a cooked cake stops humming.
- Once it is completely cold, wrap to store in clean greaseproof and foil. If you remember to, feed with more brandy several times before you take it out to ice. This makes it moist and rich but I once did it so much that the cake was positively alchoholic and a risk to drivers so I am a bit cautious about this tradition.
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