Traditional Christmas Cake
- Preparation time:
- 30 mins
- Cooking time:
- 4 hours
- Serves:
- 20
Your go-to recipe for a Christmas dessert essential!
1 cup dried cranberries (120g)
¾ cup chopped raisins
¾ cup chopped pitted dates
½ cup chopped pitted prunes
½ cup chopped glace cherries
¾ cup brandy
250g unsalted butter, chopped, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
?1 tblsp finely grated lemon rind
1 tblsp finely grated orange rind
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup slivered almonds
2 tblsps plum jam
2 cups plain flour
Pure icing sugar, for dusting
Christmas decorations
Ingredients
3 cups sultanas (430g)1 cup dried cranberries (120g)
¾ cup chopped raisins
¾ cup chopped pitted dates
½ cup chopped pitted prunes
½ cup chopped glace cherries
¾ cup brandy
250g unsalted butter, chopped, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
?1 tblsp finely grated lemon rind
1 tblsp finely grated orange rind
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup slivered almonds
2 tblsps plum jam
2 cups plain flour
3 tsps mixed spice
To Decorate
250g white fondantPure icing sugar, for dusting
Christmas decorations
Method
1 Combine all fruit and ½ cup of the brandy in an extra-large bowl. Stand, covered, overnight. Stir occasionally.
2 Next day, grease a 22cm round x 7.5cm deep cake pan. Line base and side with three layers of brown paper, then three layersof baking paper, both extending 5cm above edge of pan.
3 Beat butter, sugar and rinds in a small bowl of an electric mixer until combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until just combined. Mixture will look curdled at this stage. Don’t overbeat. Stir butter mixture into fruit mixture with almonds and jam.4 Sift combined flour and spice over top. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, mix until well combined. Spoon into prepared pan. Level surface.
5 Cook in a very slow oven (120C) for about 4 hours, or until cooked when tested (cover loosely with foil during cooking if top starts to over-brown). Remove. Brush top with remaining brandy. Wrap hot cake and pan in a clean tea towel. Cool completely in pan.
6 To decorate, knead fondant on a clean surface dusted with icing sugar until smooth. Roll out to 1cm thickness. Using a 6cm leaf cutter, cut out 24 leaves.
7 Remove cake from pan. Arrange leaves around edge, slightly overlapping. Top cake with Christmas decorations.Notes
TIP: Wrap cold cake well in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to
one year.
- Source:
- New Idea
- Author:
- Stylist:
- Cass Stokes
- Photographer:
- Oliver Ford & Andre Martin
