Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Raisins 2-1/4 lb.
Currants 1 lb.
Dates, stoned and chopped 6 oz.
Cooked prunes, stoned and chopped 4 oz.
Almond flakes 8 oz.
Butter 14 oz.
Raw brown sugar 14 oz.
Eggs 8
Grated rind of 1 lemon and 1 orange
Black treacle 1 tablespoon (Americans can substitute molasses if they can't
find treacle)
Flour 1 lb.
Salt 1 teaspoon
1 teaspoon each of : ground nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon & ginger
Sherry 5 tablespoons
Instructions Grease and line a 10 inch round cake tin with a double
thickness of greaseproof paper. Wrap a double layer thickness of brown paper
around the outside of the tin and secure with string. I usually make sure the
paper is twice as high as the depth of the cake pan.
Combine the raisins, currants, dates, prunes and almonds in a large bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at
a time. Stir in the lemon and or the black treacle. If the mixture looks like
it is starting to curdle stir in a little flour. Mix together the flour, salt
and spices. Fold the flour mixture and the fruit mixture into the batter
mixture a little at a time alternating between the flour and fruit mixtures.
Stir in the sherry and ensure everything is well blended.
Note that I have always done all of this by hand and the mixture gets very
stiff and hard to work near the end - a strong wrist is required. Traditionally
all the members of the family take turns in stirring the cake and each makes a
wish while doing so. This last Christmas some friends who had enjoyed some of
the cake the previous year decided to make some but they chose to use an
electric mixer - at the end of the process their cake mix had a different
consistency and the finished cake cooked a little differently as I did not
taste their cake I can not say if there was a difference in taste.
Put the mixture into the cake tin being careful not to create any air holes
and remembering to smooth the top surface before placing the cake in the oven.
Bake in the oven at 300F for 1 hour and then reduce the heat to 275F and cook
for a further 4 hours. If the top starts to overbrown then cover with
greaseproof paper. When you remove the cake from the oven leave it in the cake
tin and allow to cool overnight - the cake can stay warm for up to 24 hrs. When
cool remove from the tin and wrap in a double layer of aluminium foil until it
is decorated. Occasionally unwrapping and treating with sherry or an alcohol of
your choosing can ensure a moist flavourful cake but be careful not to overdo
this and create a soggy cake! The cake will improve with keeping.
Five cakes prior to decorating. The cakes in front are a little overexposed
from the flash and not really yellow in colour:-)
Decorating The traditional method of decorating a Christmas cake is with
almond paste or marzipan and Royal icing. You will need about 2 lb of marzipan
to cover the cake. Place the cake on the cake plate on which it will be
presented. Roll the marzipan out as thinly as possible and cover the top and
sides of the cake. A thin layer of strawberry jam spread over the cake will
help to 'glue' the marzipan to the cake.
To make the Royal Icing sift 12 oz. of icing sugar (confectioner's sugar for
Americans) into a bowl. Beat two egg whites then fold them into the sugar. Add
3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Brush the marzipan with a little egg white to
help the icing stick to the cake then add the icing in a thin layer. The icing
can be thickened if necessary with additional icing sugar. A flat metal
spatulla dipped in hot water will help to spread the icing but in general best
results are obtained if the icing is 'worked' as little as possible.
tannu_taniya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi
I'm from India
I'm looking for the recipe for christmas cake.
Can someone help me with it
Rgds
Tannu
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