THE Christmas Cake Recipe!

Well, after 6 weeks of soaking fruit in brandy, sherry and orange juice... THE Christmas Cake is ready!

"Cake, cake.... did someone say cake?"

The recipe I've used this year is a hand-me-down recipe from the great Ainsley Harriott's Mum!  It's a rich, fruity family favourite - with the fruit soaking for weeks beforehand, it's a really moist but not too heavy Christmas cake.

You can start to make this cake as early as August - but I'm never that organised!  Ideally, to allow the flavours to develop to the max, soak the fruit in August and September; make the cake in the first week of October then store for 3 months, decorate in the week before the big day and enjoy in it's glory on Christmas Day!

So here's the recipe....

Ainsley's Mum's Christmas cake
Start soaking the fruit a month ahead, if possible.
Ready in 45 minutes, plus soaking, 4-5 hours baking.
Cuts into 16 slices.
Easy, can be frozen

280g/10oz sultanas
280g/10oz raisins
280g/10oz currants
175g/6oz glace cherries
175g/6oz mixed citrus peel
150ml/0.25 pint brandy or rum
2 tbsp sherry (optional)
2 tbsp orange juice (optional)

225g/8oz self raising flour
85g/3oz ground almonds
1 heaped tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
225g/8oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
225g/8oz dark muscovado sugar
6 eggs
zest and juice of 1 large unwaxed lemon

For the decoration
2 tbsp apricot jam
225g/8oz bought or homemade marzipan
250g/9oz white ready-to-roll icing
silver balls and ribbon, to decorate

1. Put the dried fruit and peel in a bowl and pour over the brandy or rum and sherry.  Mix well and store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for at least a month.  Stir the fruits every few weeks.  If they look dry, add more booze or a splash of orange juice.
2. Start making the cake once the fruits are plump.  Heat the oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2.  Butter a 20cm round cake tin - about 7-8 cm deep - and line the base and sides with greasproof paper.  To protect the sides from burning, tie a double layer of greaseproof paper around the outside of the tin.
3. Blitz the soaked fruit mixture in three batches in a food processor, blitzing the final batch only lightly to keep some bite and texture to the fruit.  Mix the flour, almonds and spices in a large bowl and stir in the fruits.  Don't worry if it's hard to mix.
4. Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric hand whisk until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one by one.  Stir into the fruit mixture bit by bit, along with the lemon zest and juice.
5. Tip the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 1/2 hours.  Reduce the heat to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1 and bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours (4 hours in a gas oven). Take care it doesn't overcook.  Insert a skewer deep into the cake, if it comes out clean, it's cooked.  Cool slightly, remove from the tin, and cool on a wire rack.
6. Store in a double layer of greaseproof paper, wrapped in foil until ready to ice.  You can store the cake for up to 3 months.  Make sure you "feed" the cake by making skewer holes and pouring in brandy or rum every few weeks.  Wrap up the cake tightly after every "feed".
7. Brush the top of the cake with jam, roll out the marzipan to fit and place it on top.  Reserve a small piece of icing and roll out the rest and cover the marzipan.  Roll out the reserved icing and cut out holly leaves with cutters.  Gently press them on the edge of the icing, dampening under each leaf with water to secure.  Decorate with silver balls and ribbon.

Per slice: 616 kcalories, protein 8g, carbohydrate 102g, fat 20g, saturated fat 20g, fibre 3g, added sugar 45g, salt 0.38g.

Undecorated... straight from the oven!

 If you're quick, you can still manage to make this cake in time for Christmas.  It's simple to make so long as you follow the instructions and weigh carefully.

In step 2, I used newspaper to double wrap the cake tin (to avoid burning) as it's cheaper than greaseproof paper!  And also, on this occassion I couldn't find any string (anywhere!) to secure the paper so I stapled it into a ring large enough to slip over the tin!  The staples won't come into contact with the cake so don't worry!

I'll upload another picture once the cake is decorated... if only you could smell a cake through an online photograph!

For the record, I'm not related to Ainsley Harriott in any way!  This recipe was published in BBC Good Food Christmas, December 2004, and advertised as "Ainsley's Mum's Christmas cake".

Easiest Tea Bread Recipe - Ever!

Here's the recipe for yesterday's Silent Sunday photograph...

Tea Bread - serves 6-8, depending on how thick you like your slices!

1 mug of cold tea (no milk)
225g mixed dried fruit - sultanas, raisins, currants, mixed peel - any combination of!
225g self raising flour
125g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
2 tbsp orange maramalade

1. Place the fruit in a small bowl and pour the tea over the top.  Soak overnight or until the fruit swells (I soaked the fruit for about 4 hours and that was OK).
2. Grease a 675g loaf tin and preheat the oven to Gas 4.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl; then pour in the fruit and any left over tea.  Stir thoroughly.
4. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour and 10 mins... check after 1 hour and then every 5 minutes until the top is nicely browned and a skewer when inserted comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin.
6. Job done!

This is really easy to make and the preparation is quick too - so long as you have planned ahead with the "fruit-soaking"!  It also keeps really well and is actually better after about 2 days of storage so don't eat it all really quickly (or double up and bake 2 loaves).  You can see from the photo that it's quite a moist cake as it's full of fruit.

You can serve it sliced on it's own or with butter... after about 1 week (if it lasts that long!) it also makes great bread and butter pudding.

As a variation to the recipe, I also use different teas.  The recipe calls for normal English tea, but I have used fruit teas, Earl Grey, Assam teas, etc... just to give a slight twist to the flavour!

It's enjoyed by all in my family and a good cake to have in "stock" for unexpected visitors.  It's low in fat and a great way to get some fruit into your little one's tums!

The recipe is adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe - have a look at the other great recipes on her site here.

Silent Sunday 8th July 2012