Christmas Cake
Christmas Cake:
My Mother’s receipe
Best made weeks or months in advance.
Ingredients
16oz Flour or Spelt Flour
*1 tspn mixed_spice
1/2 tspn Nutmeg
4oz/ 1 cup Ground Almonds
12 oz Butter
12 oz sugar, if possible Molasses sugar or other dark sugar.
6 eggs, beaten with 1 teaspoon vanilla. If using Spelt, reduce the number of eggs by at least 1.
Dried Fruit: Can vary mixture as long as the final weight is 21/2 pounds
1lb Raisins
1lb Sultanas (dried green grapes: substitute USA golden raisins)
8 oz currants
8 oz cherries
6 oz mixed peel
6 oz chopped dates
4 oz Walnuts
1/2 tspn molasses
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 small tin drained apricots or I cup dried apricots (mam uses dried apricots).
Place fruit and orange rind in a bowl. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons rum, brandy, eggnog spike or curacao liqueur over the fruit and leave overnight.
Cream butter and sugar. Fold in almonds and molasses. Add an egg with a little flour to prevent curdling. Sieve in flour and spices alternating with the addition of eggs. When all flour and eggs are added, add fruit little by little. Do not over mix as fruit will sink in the final cake. The final mixture should be like a very thick batter that drops easily from a spoon
Place in prepared 8 inch round tin. (needs to be double-lined with parchment paper and wrapped on outside if possible). if you wish, you can split the mixture between 2 large loaf tins.
Cook in oven at 340ºF for 1/2 hr, reduce to 300º for 41/2-5 hours, if using the large tin. If using 2 loaf tins, bake at 340ºF for 20 min and reduce to 300 for 25-35 min. You do need to watch the cakes as ovens vary!
Remove from oven and let cool in tin. Pour 2 tablespoons liquor over cake when cool. I like to use an Egg nog spike mix for maturing the cake. Do this at least once a month until the end of November. Wrap and store in a dark cupboard.
*Mixed Spice is an easily available spice mix in Ireland. make your own by mixing together:
- Tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- ½ tbl ground coriander
- ½ tbl ground cloves
- ½ tbl ground fennel seeds
or and mixture of the above that appeals to you!!