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Xmas Cake
twingle
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Are you buying or making your own? And if making have you made it yet?
I am making mine tomorrow after a 5 yr lapse of M and S cakes!! It is a tried and tested recipe from the shwarkoph (sp) (they used to come free when you bought 2 spices) cook book
If you are making what recipe do you use?
I am making mine tomorrow after a 5 yr lapse of M and S cakes!! It is a tried and tested recipe from the shwarkoph (sp) (they used to come free when you bought 2 spices) cook book
If you are making what recipe do you use?
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Not too keen on the marzipan and icing (too sweet). Good slice of it with some Wensleydale, great on Boxing day.
Always make it and use an old recipe handed down from a couple of generations.
If anyone is interested I'll be happy to post it.
I bought all the ingreds yesterday and think M and S would be much cheaper!
12 oz Butter
12 oz Demerara Sugar
6 Eggs
1 lb Plain Flour (do not use Self Raising)
Pinch Salt
1 lb Currants
1 lb Sultanas
4 oz Raisins
2 oz Glace cherries
4 oz Chopped almonds
half teaspoon mixed sprice
2 tablespoons black treacle
1 wine glass of brandy (optional)
Method.
Cream butter till soft; add sugar and continue to cream until sugar begins to melt: Whisk eggs and beat in a little at a time (beat each addition thoroughly to avoid curdling). Stir in sifted flour and salt and add rest of ingredients. The mixture should be quite stiff.
Transfer to tin and and tie a strip of thick brown paper around the outside of the tin to stand about and inch or so higher than the tin. Cover with circle of brown paper a little bigger than the tin, with a small circle cut from the middle.
Bake for about 6 hours 20 mins at Mark 1 Gas. 275F; 140C removing the paper after 3 hours
or
Bake for 1 hour at Mark 3 Gas; 325F. 160C then reduce to Gas Mark 1 for 5 hours.
You can make half the quantity and bake in a 7" round tin at Gas Mark 3 for 1 hour then Mark 2 Gas; 300F; 150C for 2 and a half hours
or
Gas Mark 1 for 3 hours and 45 minutes.
The cake can be left to stand in the tin overnight before baking.
Feed with brandy at regular intervals before covering with almond paste; leave to dry for at least 3 days before icing.
It probably is more expensive than M&S or similar - but it's also deeper and nothing beats a homebaked cake and I love the feeling of satisfaction.
I also insist on homebaked mince pies.
That is very similar to mine accept for the treacle mixed peel and nuts I will copy it out tomorrow.
I also replace the mixed peel and nuts (not so keen) with extra fruit
I agree about the minced pies too and if the mincemeat is home made even better!
One of my memories is of baking xmas cake when 9 months pregnant and husband taken daughter to london for ballet exam and both sets of neighbours away and praying baby didn't decide to come until cake was cooked He arrived 5 days later so was still able to periodically feed it brandy:D
Thank you. Recipe now saved and will be tried tomorrow. let you know how it turns out.
You fed your baby brandy? Good Lord! :eek:
I want to bake a Christmas Cake but no-one here seems to like it and the recipe I use makes a huge cake. I could of course bake it and eat it all myself but then I would be fat and spotty ... and probably a tad sick. Maybe that's what Christmas is all about!
Go for it show them aussies what a real xmas cake tastes like xx
10oz butter
8oz soft brown sugar
6 size 3 eggs
10oz plain flour
pinch of salt
2tsp ground nutmeg
2tsp ground ginger
2tsp ground cinnamon
4oz ground almonds
12oz currants
12oz seedless raisins
12oz sultanas
6oz glace cherries chopped
6oz mixed peel
2oz almonds blanched and chopped
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
6 Tbs brandy
preheat oven to gas mark 3 160/325
Grease a deep round 8in cake tin and line with double layer of grease paper
cream butter and sugar beat in eggs one at a time adding a spoonful of flour with each one.
Sift remaining flour with salt and spices and fold in to mixture.
Stir in dried fruit ,mixed peel cherries and rind and lemon juice. Mix until all thoroughly combined
bake 1 hour then further 1 hour at gas 1 140/275. Cover top of cake with greaseproof paper and bake for another 1 and a half to 2 hours.
Leave to cool completely then prick underside with fork and gently pour on brandy
Wrap in foil and place in airtight container will keep for several months and not necessary to freeze
2 weeks before xmas marzipan top and sides leave to dry for 3 days then ice with Royal icing
I don't like mixed peel and the blanched almonds so leave them out and add the equiv weight in fruit.
I don't think I have ever bought a Xmas cake in my life - my mum used to make it then I took over. In fact, nobody in my family buys theirs and now everybody uses the Slater recipe!
Good idea. I'm not the only one then :cool:
It's an excellent moist rich (very) fruit cake; the recipe is found in Delia Smiths Christmas book.
The thing is after making litterally hundreds of these cakes we no longer eat them .So at christmas I do a light fruit cake made with dried fruit infused with brandy to make the cake keep longer, and decorate with nuts and glace fruits instead of icing and marzipan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/creolechristmascake_92907
I have a recipe very similar to Delia's, only i have put the fruits to soak already.