I've just finished cooking our Christmas cake!! (page 3)

greendawn

It's nice to do things early and be so far ahead of schedule, I am sure that cake will be very tasty and nutritions given the amount of dried fruit in it.

dobbie

Fullofdoubtnow<<Linda>> thats so sweet!What a lovely xmas present so romantic!(move over Mr Darcy!)

Gill - that cake sounds absolutely delicious - or is it the thought of all that brandy?!x

Gill

jaguarbass - No! I've not named the cake anything yet. It's about 12" by 18" big and nearly as big as a park.

If I name it, I won't be able to eat it!!

Fullofdoubtnow - Planning a wedding and Christmas sounds fantastic!

That's another one of the beauties of having left the bOrg, that there is so much to celebrate and have fun with now!!

Finally-Free

Ok, I can understand people wanting to celebrate holidays after leaving the cult. After so many years of deprivation some may even celebrate excessively.

But isn't baking and consuming fruitcake just a tad extreme?

W

Gill

FF- Yes! It's Very, very Bad!!!! That's what makes it so Gooooood!!!!

Gill

Here is the recipe for the Christmas Cake for those of you who have asked for it. Bear in mind that I make a massive cake as my husband and kids are christmas cake fanatics!

Feel free to halve or quarter the recipe and use a smaller baking dish. I like to use a pot or glass blaking dish for this instead of metal as it doesn't dry the cake out so much. I grease and double line the dish with greaseproof or baking paper and cook this size cake for about 5 hours in a fan assisted overn.

For a 13" round or 12" square cake

1 1/4 lb currants ( 800g)

1 1/4 lb sultanas

1 1/4 lb Raisins

6 oz candied peel (175g)

12 oz Glace cherries (350g)

12 oz dried apricots

12 ox glace pineapple

Put all the fruits in a bowl and soak in 1/2 pint of brandy for 24 hours

1 1/4 lb butter

1 1/4 lb dark sugar

12 eggs

6 oz ground almonds

1 1/4 lb plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice

1 teaspoons grated nutmeg

Grated Rind of 3 lemons and 3 oranges

Beat the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs and flour alternately, a bit at a time. Add the ground almonds and spices.

Add the grated rind and then fold in the fruit mixture.

Pour carefully into the baking dish and hollow out the centre so that the cake is flat when cooked.

Cook for approximately 5 - 6 hours at 140 F / 275 F / Gas Mark 1

For a cake half this size cook for about four hours.

Test as you would any other cake. It is cooked if a skewer inserted comes out clean, and if the middle of the cake springs right up when you press it down.

When completely cool, make lots of slashes in the cake and pour about 1/2 pint of brandy onto it. (Keep the greaseproof lining paper on the cake until ready to serve.) Wrap the cake securely with lots of greaseproof and aluminium foil. About every 2-3 weeks pour more brandy on the cake.

When ready to serve, take off the greaseproof paper. Roll out 2lbs of marzipan thickly. Brush the top and sides of the cake with apricot jam. Drape the marzipan onto the cake and press on firmly. Decorate with Christmas decorations. Or, if you like royal icing, roll out 2 lbs of royal icing. Brush the marzipan top with apricot jam, and then drape on the royal icing before putting on the christmas decorations.

Have fun!!!

valkyrie

Thanks for sharing, Gill!

Just a question: what does the instruction below mean?

Cook for approximately 5 - 6 hours at 140 F / 275 F / Gas Mark 1

[Specifically, the "140 F / 275 F / Gas Mark 1" portion. I know that I shall have to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, but why are two temperatures given and what is the gas reference? Does it matter if one cooks using an electric oven?]

-V

Gill

My apologies Valkyrie!

The temps should be 140 C /275 F/ Gas Mark 1.

In Britain cookers can have any of the above temps.

Alpheta

Holy cow, Gill, that cake sounds big enough to feed an army! I admit it DOES sound good - for a fruit cake. Guess I've just got the American prejudice - too many really BAD tinned fruit cakes floating around! I'm sure all the brandy helps. Can you explain - what is "greaseproof" - is that like waxed paper? Doesn't putting on marzipan make the outside of the cake too hard (crusty) to eat - and what is royal frosting? Never heard of it.

This is the first year I'm putting up an xmas tree since 1993 and I'm really looking forward to it. I got an artificial one with built-in lights, shopping for it was a lot of fun, but I was in shock over how expensive artificial trees have gotten - even the plain kind without the built-in lights. I shopped online for a long time on Saturday looking for ornaments and got some of those too - I gave all of my old things away to a friend with small children when I started studying (they're all grown up now and I'm sure the tree I gave her is long since in the rubbish heap, too). We've got a couple of trips to Chicago planned and I'm looking forward to shopping there too.

I've just finished cooking our Christmas cake!!

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