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Christmas Cake
Posted 10-10-2007 at 11:05 AM by Lesley Jay
This is my really easy Christmas Cake recipe.
8oz Self Raising Flour
8oz Soft Brown Sugar
8oz Butter
6 Eggs
A good teaspoon Mixed Spice
16oz Sultanas
10oz Currants
12oz Raisins
4oz Mixed Peel
5oz Glace Cherries
Put the sultanas, currants and raisins in a large bowl and sift some of the flour over them. Mix the fruit up so that each piece is coated in flour and pick off any stalks that you see. Add the mixed peel and distribute it through the fruit. In a small bowl put the glace cherries, which you slice in half, dusted with a little sifted flour.
Cream the butter and sugar together until it is no longer gritty. Add the eggs one at a time and a little sifted flour if the mixture starts to curdle. Then add the sifted flour and sifted mixed spice. Finally add the fruit. I add the glace cherries last. Make sure the cherries are evenly distributed through the cake mixture.
Line a 9 inch cake tin with 3 layers of greaseproof paper. Add the cake mixture making a dip in the centre of the cake. Wrap a few layers of brown paper around the outside of the cake tin, tie with string.
Bake at 140C, 275F for a fan oven for 3 hours. Test the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean it's cooked. When it is completely cold, wrap in greaseproof, store in a cake tin and remember to keep feeding the cake with whisky.
8oz Self Raising Flour
8oz Soft Brown Sugar
8oz Butter
6 Eggs
A good teaspoon Mixed Spice
16oz Sultanas
10oz Currants
12oz Raisins
4oz Mixed Peel
5oz Glace Cherries
Put the sultanas, currants and raisins in a large bowl and sift some of the flour over them. Mix the fruit up so that each piece is coated in flour and pick off any stalks that you see. Add the mixed peel and distribute it through the fruit. In a small bowl put the glace cherries, which you slice in half, dusted with a little sifted flour.
Cream the butter and sugar together until it is no longer gritty. Add the eggs one at a time and a little sifted flour if the mixture starts to curdle. Then add the sifted flour and sifted mixed spice. Finally add the fruit. I add the glace cherries last. Make sure the cherries are evenly distributed through the cake mixture.
Line a 9 inch cake tin with 3 layers of greaseproof paper. Add the cake mixture making a dip in the centre of the cake. Wrap a few layers of brown paper around the outside of the cake tin, tie with string.
Bake at 140C, 275F for a fan oven for 3 hours. Test the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean it's cooked. When it is completely cold, wrap in greaseproof, store in a cake tin and remember to keep feeding the cake with whisky.
Total Comments 5
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When do you make your Christmas Cake Lesley?
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Make it now if you want Adam. I normally make mine on December 1st but you could make it in September if you wanted. It will keep for years if you wrap it in greaseproof paper, then foil and store it in an air tight tin. Put the booze on it first though!!
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why...? Lesley... having never made a Christmas cake before (But attempting yours this weekend) can I ask will any alcohol do..? such as rum, or is whisky best.Also in your method you state "add the cake mixture making a dip in the centre of the cake". Erm... why..? And you say "wrap a few layers of brown paper around the cake tin" Does this include over the top of the mixture as well..? Sorry to be thick... but when it comes to baking i usually am.  |
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I have always used whiskey Seaspud so I don't know what the cake would taste like using rum. Leave it a week (wrapped up in an air tight tin) then turn it upside down and using a thin skewer spike holes on the bottom of the cake. Don't go mad, lets say 6 - 8 spikes, then I put a tablespoon of whiskey around each spike hole. I think the whiskey can travel down the hole and get further into the cake. Don't make any more holes but give the bottom of the cake a couple more doses of whiskey in the lead up to Christmas. You don't want a wet cake so don't drown it! I store the cake upside down. My mind thinks that this gives the whiskey chance to travel through the cake.
The dip in the centre. Cakes naturally rise up in the centre when they are baking. If you make a bit of a dip in the centre (but not a great big crater!) you get a much leveller top to the cake. The brown paper just goes around the outside of the tin. Not over the top of the cake. The brown paper gives the cake protection against getting burnt because it is in the oven for so long. I have measured mine for you. The cake tin is 3 inches deep. Line this with 3 layers of greaseproof paper that comes about 1 inch above the cake tin. I use a double thickness of brown paper and it is 6 inches deep. The hardest part of this recipe is tying the knot in the string to hold the paper in place! Honestly it is an easy recipe. Have everything weighed out and ready before you start making the cake. It will be lovely!! |
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Cheers for that... my mission this weekend, if I choose to accept.. make a cake.!
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