Christmas cake and related recipes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ----------------------------------[ CHRISTMAS CAKE ]--------------------------- Currants 500g Sultanas 500g Glacé Ginger 200g Glacé Cherries 100g Plain Flour 300g Soft Brown Sugar 300g (Muscovado or similar is fine) Butter 300g One Orange, One lime, One lemon Six large eggs Mixed spices to taste (I prefer 1.5 good teaspoons full) Brandy To soak fruit, soak cake, drink, etc. Day 1: Put currants, sultanas, ginger and cherries in a large pot with a lid Pour on some brandy and mix well; breaking up the ginger so that it is well dispersed. You may find that soaking the ginger in brandy helps here. Then zest the three fruits into the mix. Put the fruits into a fridge or airtight container. Pour on some more brandy, mix thoroughly and then put the lid on and leave somewhere cool overnight. (Note: If the pot is big enough to mix the cake in then that's even better) Day 2: Pour on a little more brandy; stir, re-cover Day 3: Cake-baking day (obtain extra arms for today; they'll ache) Sift the flour and spices together. Add a pinch of salt if your butter is unsalted. Stir into the fruit bit-by-bit ensuring an even mixture Cream the butter and sugar until the mix is pale; soft and fluffy. Put the six eggs into a bowl and beat lightly with a fork to break them up as best as you can. Add to the butter/sugar mix a little at a time; mixing thoroughly. I'm serious about the "little". It'll turn into a slick chunky sludge if you're not careful. Mix the sugar/butter/egg into the fruit a little at a time ensuring a good consistent mixture. Once it's all in; if the mixture is a little wet; sprinkle a little more flour in and mix. If it seems a little dry, sprinkle a teaspoon of milk in and mix Grease a 9" round tin (2.5" high) and put in about half the mixture Push it to the edges and then spoon in the rest of the mix a bit at a time; ensuring there are no trapped air bubbles of any major size Place a two or three layer thick baking sheet around the tin and tie or tape securely into place. Make sure this isn't too high to go into the oven. Place into oven pre-heated to 170 degC. If you have an Electric oven then put a large bowl of water at the bottom to improve the likelyhood that the cake will not dry out. Four hours is the nominal baking time. Check it every half-an-hour from about three hours onward. The cake will be golden brown; firm to the touch, won't sing and will not stick to a skewer when it is done. Remove cake from oven and sit cake-tin on a can of soup or something so that there is a maximal radiating surface to cool the cake tin. After about 30 minutes or when the tin is reasonably cool to the touch slip the side off the cake tin and leave the cake to cool further. (this is where having a loose-bottomed cake tin helps) Now prick the surface of the cake as much as you can. Basically nice reguarl fork holes every cm or so. In a bowl; mix the juice of the orange, the lime and the lemon with an equal amount of brandy. Sprinkle this liquid over the cake so that it soaks into the holes. Leave the cake overnight to cool. Day 4: Remove the cake from the tin base and place it in an air-tight box. Day 7+N where N is a multiple of three (I.E. day 7 onwards every three days) If (N/3) mod 3 is: 0 Open the box and sprinkle a teaspoon of brandy over the cake. 1 Open the box and sprinkle the juice of one lime and an equal amount of brandy over the cake 2 Open the box and sprinkle the juice of one orange over the cake. ----------------------------------[ ALMOND PASTE (MARZIPAN ]------------------- 350g Ground Almonds 350g Icing sugar 5ml Vanilla Essence One large egg white Lemon Juice Apricot jam (to stick the marzipan to the cake) This one is quite messy on the hands... wash them well to begin with; and keep a lot of kitchen roll or towel on hand to wipe your hands on if you need to do something quickly o Sift the sugar into a bowl o Add the almonds o Stir the egg white in o Add the vanilla essence and enough lemon juice to give a stiff dough o Form into a bowl and knead lightly o Wrap in clingfilm; leave overnight in a cool place (fridge) o Knead it some more to warm it up and soften the dough o Divide into 2 parts; roll out; put on the top of the cake o Divide the second half into 2 parts o Roll each out into half-circumference strips o paint jam all over the cake o Stick the marzipan to it and stick it all together. o Leave cake for 24 hours ------------------------------------[ ROYAL ICING ]---------------------------- 1kg Icing sugar 4 egg whites 2 tsps. glycerine o Sift sugar into a bowl o In another bowl break the egg whites up o Add half the sugar into the egg and mix well. Stir it briskly until it is smooth, glossy and white o Cover with a damp cloth and leave for at least an hour to allow the air to leave the mix o Gradually mix in the rest of the sugar o Add the glycerine and mix thoroughly o Coat the cake in lots of pretty and yummy icing o Leave the cake for 24 hours at least