Christmas cake: Food24: Recipes

Christmas cake

Recipe from: - YOU 12/2/1999 12:00:00 AM

Cooking time: 4 hours

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Ingredients

500

g

dates, shredded
1

kg

fruitcake mix
200

ml

brandy
450

g

butter, at room temperature
475

ml

soft brown sugar
9

extra-large eggs
600

g

cake flour
5

ml

bicarbonate of soda
5

ml

salt
2

ml

ground cloves
2

ml

ground cinnamon
2

ml

ground nutmeg
5

ml

cocoa
50

ml

ginger preserve syrup
125

g

ginger preserve, finely chopped
100

g

walnuts, chopped
1

lemon, grated rind
250

g

maraschino cherries OR glacé cherries, halved and lightly dredged with flour
65

ml

brandy

Method

Soak the dates and fruitcake mix overnight in the brandy. Butter two 25 cm cake tins and line with 3 layers of buttered brown paper. Preheat the oven to 120 ºC. Cream the butter and brown sugar together and beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift the dry ingredients over the butter mixture. Stir in the ginger syrup and chopped ginger, walnuts and lemon rind. Spoon a layer of the batter into the tins and scatter with some cherries. Repeat the layers of batter and cherries, ending with a layer of batter. Bake for 4 hours until done, remove from the oven and pour the brandy over. Leave to cool in the tins before turning out carefully and wrapping in aluminium foil. Store in an airtight container. Moisten the cakes once every fortnight with a few capfuls of brandy, rewrap and store.

Servings: Change Serving

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Buttermilk substitute
If your recipe calls for buttermilk, but you don't have any, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk, then let it stand for 5 minutes before using.

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