There is a never ending debate on what an actual Christmas cake is or should be. Some say fruit cakes are the real Christmas cakes while others argue that the cakes that are heavily iced are the real Christmas cakes. The best way you can come to a conclusion is to get creative and bake one yourself. Alongside giving a homemade feel to the cake, it would also save you from paying for the cake beforehand and also waiting for its delivery. However, if you do not have the option to bake one yourself, then ordering the cake is a wise choice. There are reputed online companies, which promise the facility of “cake next day delivery” so that the customers do not have to spend the days restlessly until it arrives.
The ultimate Christmas cake is a Victorian style cake dating back to 16th century cuisine. This cake needs to be baked at least three weeks ahead of the Christmas day, the more it gets seasoned, the better it tastes! The seasoning needs to be done with alcohol. However, you can feed it with orange juice if you don’t want to add alcohol.
Here’s how we can bake the ultimate Christmas cake!
What we will need:
• 200 grams of raisins
• 350 grams of cherries
• 500grams of currants
• 350grams of sultanas
• Quarter pint of sherry
• 2 graded oranges
• 250 grams of softened butter
• 250 grams of sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of black treacle
• 75 grams of chopped almonds
• 75 grams self raising flour
• 175 grams of plain flour
• 1½ tablespoons of mixed spice
Ingredients for garnishing the cake:
• 3 tablespoons of apricot jam
• Icing sugar
• 500 grams of almond paste
• A royal icing mix packet.
Steps to bake:
1. Take a container and keep all the dried fruit there. Then put the sherry or orange juice and keep stirring with orange zest. Cover the mixture and soak it for 3 days. Now, grease round tin about 9 inches deep with a layer of greaseproof paper. Heat the oven to 140 Celsius Fan and 120 Celsius Gas Mark.
2. Keep the butter, eggs, sugar, treacle and almonds in a big bowl mix thoroughly. Add mixed spice for flavour and blend it with soaked fruit. Then spoon out the mixture into the cake tin and level it.
3. Bake for about four hours and check the colour. Once it’s done, take it out and cool the tin.
4. When the cake is cold, use a long thin needle to poke it and feed the cake with sherry or orange juice. Now, keep the cake for seasoning for three months feeding it periodically.
5. Once seasoned, garnish and serve with royal icing and almond paste.
Author’s Bio: He is a travel writer and a foodie. He loves to tour all over the world collecting memorabilia and gifts for his dear ones. Apart from blogging at portals like http://www.expressgiftservice.co.uk, he also loves to try out various cuisines.
1 comment
Love your photograph…… and the property used….The cake looks delicious……and perfect for the season…:)
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