*Not necessarily perfect!
This receipe started off as a family traditional recipe (so credit due to wherever my father got the recipe from), and little has changed in the years I've been making it, except I've added more brandy and a twist - the pepper. It uses a basic dense rich fruit cake, and then the decoration comes later. The best time to make a fruit cake is roughly 6-8 weeks before its needed, as the fruit matures nicely. You can of course make it with less time to spare, it just won't taste quite as good.
The christmas cake variation is made in three stages. First the fruit is soaked in the brandy, then the cake is made, and then, a week before being needed, the cake is decorated.
Ingredients
Props
Method
Stage one is done 24 hours before baking the cake. Add the dried fruit ingredients to a large bowl, add most of the brandy (leaving enough to spoon over the cake in the coming weeks), and leave to soak overnight, covered with a tea towel.
Now for the actual cake. Preheat the oven to gask mark 1, or 140°C. Sift the flour, nutmeg, mixed spice, salt and pepper together. I prefer to do this twice.
Next, place the butter in a bowl on a radiator so that it warms up, don't let it melt though. Beat the eggs quite a lot, making sure a lot of air gets into them.
Fold the butter and sugar together, a little bit at a time:
This is the most important stage (and the most tiring!) because you need to get as much air in to the mix as possible. This is an extremely dense cake, and every little helps essentially.
Next, beat in the eggs vigorously, a tablespoon at a time, until you have a thick almost porridge style mix:
Then slowly fold in the flour mix taking care when doing so, so that as much air stays in the mix.
Once you have a nice conistency, stir in the fruit, adding the rind, and chopped almonds.
Finally, grease your cake tin with butter, and line it with greaseproof paper, making sure you leave a decent amount above the cake tin, to help stop the top of the cake burning.
Place in the oven, and bake for around 4 and a half hours. Try to resist taking a peek until at least 4 hours have passed. Once done, place in the airtight container where it will live until a week before it is needed. Using a thin needle, or a cooking thermometer is perfect for this, create little holes in the surface of the cake, and, once a week, spoon a little of the remaining brandy over the top to help the cake mature.
And here it is from the oven. Ready to go into an airtight box, and then be re-soaked in the coming weeks
.
This receipe started off as a family traditional recipe (so credit due to wherever my father got the recipe from), and little has changed in the years I've been making it, except I've added more brandy and a twist - the pepper. It uses a basic dense rich fruit cake, and then the decoration comes later. The best time to make a fruit cake is roughly 6-8 weeks before its needed, as the fruit matures nicely. You can of course make it with less time to spare, it just won't taste quite as good.
The christmas cake variation is made in three stages. First the fruit is soaked in the brandy, then the cake is made, and then, a week before being needed, the cake is decorated.
Ingredients
- 225g plain flour
- 225g unsalted butter
- 225g soft brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 35cl brandy
- 450g currants
- 175g raisins
- 175g sultanas
- 50g glace cherries
- 50g candied peel
- 4 large eggs
- 50g chopped almonds
- Rind of one lemon and orange
Props
- This recipe is for an 8 inch round cake tin, or a 7 inch square tin
- An airtight container
- Various mixing bowls
Method
Stage one is done 24 hours before baking the cake. Add the dried fruit ingredients to a large bowl, add most of the brandy (leaving enough to spoon over the cake in the coming weeks), and leave to soak overnight, covered with a tea towel.
Now for the actual cake. Preheat the oven to gask mark 1, or 140°C. Sift the flour, nutmeg, mixed spice, salt and pepper together. I prefer to do this twice.
Next, place the butter in a bowl on a radiator so that it warms up, don't let it melt though. Beat the eggs quite a lot, making sure a lot of air gets into them.
Fold the butter and sugar together, a little bit at a time:
This is the most important stage (and the most tiring!) because you need to get as much air in to the mix as possible. This is an extremely dense cake, and every little helps essentially.
Next, beat in the eggs vigorously, a tablespoon at a time, until you have a thick almost porridge style mix:
Then slowly fold in the flour mix taking care when doing so, so that as much air stays in the mix.
Once you have a nice conistency, stir in the fruit, adding the rind, and chopped almonds.
Finally, grease your cake tin with butter, and line it with greaseproof paper, making sure you leave a decent amount above the cake tin, to help stop the top of the cake burning.
Place in the oven, and bake for around 4 and a half hours. Try to resist taking a peek until at least 4 hours have passed. Once done, place in the airtight container where it will live until a week before it is needed. Using a thin needle, or a cooking thermometer is perfect for this, create little holes in the surface of the cake, and, once a week, spoon a little of the remaining brandy over the top to help the cake mature.
And here it is from the oven. Ready to go into an airtight box, and then be re-soaked in the coming weeks
.
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