It's Chirstmas cake time :D

I mentioned previously that one of my first baking memories is helping my granny make her Christmas cake in her big green baking bowl. Usually me and one or two of my cousins would gather around her small kitchen table and help weight out the ingredients (on an old fashioned scales which I could never get the hang of..I was never so happy when we got a digital scales!). It was usually of a dark winter Sunday afternoon, with the fire roaring in the sitting room and the radio playing very early Christmas carols. It's a memory I do cherish (however corny that sounds). 

We'd also be around a few weeks after when she would ice the cake in preparation for the big day. Her cake was always amazing and I don't think it ever lasted much longer than January 6th. 

So when she asked me this year to make the cake (my aunt has been making it the last few years but with my cousin getting married in January (excitement) she's busy with  preparations and making Wedding cakes)

(me and my cousins)

I was delighted. 

And so freaking nervous. I did not want to screw it up. I would have the authority on cake in the parish judging me..and with 80 odd years of expereince, she's one tough cookie to impress. 

I was entrusted with her recipe book (which contained some hand written recipes that I need to try out for brack and dundee cake) and off I went.

The recipe is uber simple, it's an all-in-one method so no faffing around with soaking and loads of different bowls. She had been making this particular Christmas cake from the early 1990s and I think that it might become my own regular recipe too!

This recipe makes an 8'' cake.

You will need:

375g currants

250g sultanas

150g raisins

90g glacé cherries, quartered

90g almonds, blanced and chopped

90g mixed cut peel

grated rind of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons brandy or whiskey (or spiced rum_

250g plain flour

1 1/4 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

65g ground almounds

200g Stork margarine (softened at room temperatures)

255g dark brown sugar

5 large eggs

grated rind of 1 orange

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 1 / 140C

2. Line the sides of the tin with a double thickness of greaseproof paper and the base.

3. Place all the fruit, alcohol and spices and rind in a bowl and mix.

4. Cream all the other ingredients to make the cake base. Mix in the fruit mixture until well combined. 

5 Place the mixture in the prepared tin and smooth the top with the back of a wet tablespoon.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 3 and a half to four hours. Check at intervals after 3 hours.

7. Test with a skewer, if it comes out clean, without crumbs the cake  is ready. 

8. Allow to cool in the tin, poke a few holes in the cake with the skewer.

9. Turn out, remove papers, wrap in double greaseproof paper then in foil. 

10. Store in a cool dry place.

11. Every few weeks, open the cake up and pour two tablespoons of alcohol into the wholes that you poked. 

To decorate:

You can brush with melted apricot jam and cover with a thin layer of marzipan. Then cover with Royal Icing . If , like me, you're not that fond of marzipan, you can leave it out, but don't ice until very near the day.