Christmas recipe for 4 - 8 people, takes only 10 mins; recipe has dried fruit, orange, lemon, brandy, butter, brown sugar, plain flour, ground almond, baking powder, mixed spice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, flaked almond, large egg and vanilla extract.
Make & mature Christmas cake
Course: Christmas
Servings
4 - 8
servings
Prep time
25 mins
Ingredients
- Dried Fruit: 1kg mixed dried fruit (use a mix of raisins, sultanas, currants, cherries, cranberries, prunes or figs)
- Orange: zest and juice 1 orange
- Lemon: zest and juice 1 lemon
- Brandy: 150ml brandy, Sherry, whisky or rum, plus extra for feeding
- Butter: 250g pack butter, softened
- Brown Sugar: 200g light soft brown sugar
- Plain Flour: 175g plain flour
- Ground Almond: 100g ground almond
- Baking Powder: 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Mixed Spice: 2 tsp mixed spice
- Ground Cinnamon: 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Ground Cloves: 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- Flaked Almond: 100g flaked almond
- Large Egg: 4 large eggs
- Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Put 1kg mixed dried fruit, the zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon, 150ml brandy or other alcohol, 250g softened butter and 200g light, soft brown sugar in a largepanset over a medium heat.
- Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 mins. Tip the fruit mixture into a largebowland leave to cool for 30 mins.
- Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Line a deep 20cm cake tin with a double layer ofbaking parchment, then wrap a double layer of newspaper around the outside - tie with string to secure.
- Add 175g plain flour, 100g ground almonds, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 100g flaked almonds, 4 large eggs and 1 tsp vanilla extract to the fruit mixture and stir well, making sure there are no pockets of flour.
- Tip into your prepared tin, level the top with aspatulaand 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.
