Christmas Cake
Makes 1 cake, 35 minutes preparation, 2 hours cooking.
This Christmas Fruitcake will keep for up to 2 months after baking, so it is great for preparing in advance of Christmas or for giving as a home-made present.
Ingredients
- 200g Self-Raising Flour
- 200g Butter
- 200g Soft Brown Sugar
- 100g dried Cranberries
- 100g dried Cherries
- 100g dried Mixed Peel
- 250g Raisins
- 250g Currants
- 100g Ground Almonds
- 1tsp Mixed Spice
- 3 beaten Eggs
- 75ml Brandy (or an alternate alcohol such as Sherry, Whisky or Rum. OR you could try Tea for a non-alcohol option!)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 150˚C. Next, line a deep cake tin, 20cm round or 18cm square will work well, with a double layer of baking paper. Wrap a few layers of newspaper around the outside of the tin and secure with string.
- Put the butter, sugar, brandy and dried fruits into a large saucepan. Heat gently and stirring occasionally to melt all of the ingredients together. Once everything has melted remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
- In a big bowl mix the flour, ground almonds and mixed spice together. Next, stir the beaten eggs into the slightly cooled mixture in the saucepan then add the flour mixture to the pan. Stir vigorously to mix all of the ingredients together fully.
- Scrape the cake mixture into your prepared tin and bake for around 1½ hrs.
Top Tip: to check if the cake is cooked through poke a skewer gently through the centre of the cake and slowly remove it. If the skewer is clean and has no cake mix on it the cake is ready.
- Once the cake is cooked remove it from the oven and cool it in the tin, then decorate it however you like.
Top Tip: If you wrap the cake in grease-proof paper and seal it in an airtight container the cake will keep for 2 months so you can make it in advance so make sure you are all prepared for Christmas day in plenty of time!.
REMEMBER! If you want the cake to have a fuller alcoholic flavour, prick small holes in the top of you cake and "feed" your cake once every fortnight with 1-2 tablespoons of brandy, drizzling over the top of the cake gently. DON'T feed the cake for the final week to give the surface a chance to dry before icing.
