Wanted - Christmas Cake recipe

DUSTY · Wanted - Christmas Cake recipe

Hi, when I was growing up I helped my mother make the christmas cake.

I remember she used (or delegate to me

) to add some of the ingredients including treacle.

This made a lovely dark, moist and rich fruit cake.

Does anyone have a recipe for such a cake, many recipes i've seen tend to be quite 'light and crumbly'?

Manta Ray a l'Anglaise

I've been searching for my Christmas and festive days cookery book. . . . can I find it? No

So. . . have you a recipe that you like but it's too light and crumbly?
If so then this is what you are to do:- Increase the dried fruit content. For a 6" tin using a 4oz butter/sugar/flour mix (or thereabouts) I would suggest you need 1lb dried fruits - currants/sultanas/raisins plus a nice amount (1/2lb) of glace fruits, lots are available these days. Chopped ready to eat prunes are also a useful addition. Finally some whole or roughly chopped nuts add interest - almonds, pistachio, brazils, up to 4oz.

Soak the dried fruits overnight in cold tea, if you use dried fruits without soaking then they absorb moisture from the cake mix which will make it drier.

Use a nice moist dark brown sugar and then also stir in a couple of tablespoons of black treacle, enough to darken the mixture and taste it.
Also add spices, my favourite mix for a cake is cinnamon and nutmeg, beware of using too much ground clove as it can be overpowering, mixed spice is fine and ground allspice too, ground ginger should also be used with caution.

Ground almonds can be used in addition to flour or partially substitiuted.

Bake in a slow oven, gas 3, old 250/275. Cover with brown paper to prevent the top burning. It's no good asking me times, I cook till done and never time anything, it will need roughly 3 hrs, and is done when the sides of the cake have come slightly away from tin and the top springs back. Don't use a skewer they can be very misleading.

DUSTY

Hi M / R'A

Thanks for this, i've googled and found a rich fruit recipe which has what you've suggested with a couple of additions, e.g. zest and juice of orange +brandy

I've just weighed out the dried fruit, including apricots, prunes and figs and put them to soak in brandy.

OH is eyeing up the remaining brandy

Manta Ray a l'Anglaise

Yeah - I forgot about the brandy. . . .

And the citrus peel (tut)but in my defence I was about to go out so was in a bit of a rush

I don't drink, so stuff like that is never in my house, I used to make wedding cakes but would pour brandy over the underside of the cake and then wrap in cling film for a month or so. The suggestions I gave you were based on my wedding cake recipe, but as it was 20 or so years ago a lot of what's now available in the ready to eat department wasn't then, (prunes were still soaked and figs were really dry) And of course the dried fruits - raisins, sults etc were drier then so needed soaking and cold tea was ideal.

Thank you for your earlier kind comment by the way

DUSTY

You are very welcome q15

Ha gone mad and done the no fat cake as well

fruit and all bran presently soaking in milk overnight.

Will cook the Christmas cake and that at the same time.

Have to wait until OH comes home from work to finish mixing C.Cake as it's tradition in my family to make a wish as you stir. q17