Traditional Christmas Cake

19/11/2013

It’s only 36 sleeps until Christmas so I decided I had better get a move on and make my Christmas cake! It has become an annual tradition making one of these.  Now I don’t like rich fruit cake such as Wedding cake or Christmas cakes but this is one booze traditional Christmas Cake that I do love this one. Unfortunately if you have a nut allergy then this cake won’t be for you.

Traditional Christmas Cake

Ingredients:

Raisins 350g
Currants 150g
Glacé Cherries 50g
Chopped Pecans or Walnuts 75g
Bourbon or Brandy 200mls
Butter 150g
Dark Brown Sugar 90g
Grated Lemon Zest 1 Teaspoon
Large Eggs 2
Black Treacle or Molasses 1 Tablespoon
Almond essence 1/2 Teaspoon
Plain flour 150g
Ground almonds 75g
Ground cloves 1/4 Teaspoon
Ground cinnamon 1/2 Teaspoon
Ground ginger 1/4 Teaspoon

Method:
Place all the dried fruit in a saucepan and add the alcohol, I used Brandy.  Bring to the boil, then take it off the heat.  Once the fruit has cooled, cover with a saucepan lid and let it steep overnight.  Take the eggs and butter out of the fridge so that they will be at room temperature in the morning.

Next day, preheat your oven to 150 degrees/gas mark 2 and prepare your tin by greasing it and then lining the sides and bottom of the cake tin (I used an 18cm round, loose bottomed cake tin) with grease proof paper.  Allow extra to come up the sides of the tin.

Cream the butter and sugar together, before adding the lemon zest.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well before adding the next one.  Beat in the black treacle and almond essence.

Sift all the dry ingredients together and add them into the mixture a bit at a time, alternating with the soaked fruit. Once everything is mixed in, transfer into the lined cake tin and place into the pre-heated oven for approx 1hr 45mins. Test by inserting a skewer into the cake to see if ready (if there is cake mixture stuck to the skewer then bake for longer.

When the cake has cooled put it in an airtight tin and feed it alcohol by brushing the Brandy over the cake once a week until it is ready to be iced and decorated. I will post later on how to ice the cake.

 

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4 responses to “Traditional Christmas Cake”

  1. Rachael says:

    That looks delicious, i'd totally forgotten about baking a cake, i'll have to get onto it!

    • admin says:

      Thanks Rachael 🙂

      I'm not really a lover of rich cakes but this one for me, is a winner. Your house will smell amazing while it's baking as well. Let me know how you get on with your cake!

  2. I'm terrible at icing cakes. Even after going to a cake decorating class.

    My cake is already done but this recipe looks fab. Thanks for sharing

    • admin says:

      Lol I'm not very good either thats why I have gone for the ready rolled marzipan & icing as I find that a chore to roll out 🙂 Hopefully it looks okay otherwise I am going to have to change the blog post to "How not to ice a cake!"
      It is a very nice recipe, hopefully you try it next year. Thanks for dropping in by 🙂 x

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