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As promised, but a little late and for the benefit of Jon C, Marjory's Christmas Cake.
Marjory’s Christmas Cake
Ingedients
1 x 8 ½” Round springform cake tin
12 oz sultanas
8 oz raisins
8 oz currants
4 oz stoned chopped prunes
4 oz mixed peel
4 fl oz sherry
1 large orange
4 oz glace cherries, quartered and washed
4 oz chopped walnut pieces
10 oz soft butter
8 oz dark brown sugar
10 oz plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon mixed spice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
5 large eggs
2 level tablespoons apricot jam
1 level tablespoon black treacle
Method
Put all fruit except cherries into a pan on a low heat with the sherry. Leave to stew very gently until all liquid is absorbed. When the fruit has cooled add the chopped and washed cherries. Leave the fruit in a bowl overnight with a plate on the top to fully absorb the sherry.
The next day.
Pre-heat the oven to 140 C.
First give the fruit a good mix and then add the nuts to the fruit and mix in.
In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients together.
In another (large) bowl cream the butter and sugar together, then add the apricot jam and treacle, mixing well. Following this, add the eggs 1 at a time along with a couple of tablespoons of the flour/dry ingredient mix until all of the eggs and flour are mixed in.
Finally add the fruit and nuts to the eggs/butter/flour/dry ingredient mix and stir well.
Double line the springform tin, greasing well. Put the mixture in the tin and cook for 4 – 4 ½ hours. Check with a skewer after 4 hours, the skewer will come out clean when the cake is cooked.
When cooked allow the cake to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. After several days use a skewer to deeply pierce the cake all over before feeding with 1 tablespoon of brandy. Each week turn the cake and add another teaspoon of brandy.
8 days before the cake is needed put it on a suitable cake board and cover with almond paste/marzipan. Put the cake back in the airtight container for a week leaving the almond paste to dry then finally ice the cake as desired.
Enjoy.
Sounds a bit complicated ...... wouldn't it be easier to nip to Tesco's? 😆
.... then go and do at least on 24hr, to work off the calories. 😯
Dave, I'm surprised at you. You of all people should know there are no shortcuts to greatness! !!
What's the context of this post John?
@Jed wrote:
What's the context of this post John?
Ged, the context of this post is a very sad conversation one saturday afternoon a few weeks ago at two mills where Jon C and John K were comparing the merits of their old Ma's Xmas cake recipes, all very sad i must say. 😆
@JimDuffy wrote:
@Jed wrote:
What's the context of this post John?
Ged, the context of this post is a very sad conversation one saturday afternoon a few weeks ago at two mills where Jon C and John K were comparing the merits of their old Ma's Xmas cake recipes, all very sad i must say. 😆
It was very funny 😆 I think they should have a bake off 😉
I don't know about greatness John, I settle for best I can achieve with the time available. Anyway I think they say that behind every great man there is a great woman and Caroline bakes the cakes in our house. Unfortunately she usually makes cakes for other people's weddings, birthdays, etc and if we are really lucky we sometimes get a cake for Xmas. I love fruit cake and some would say that I even aspire to be one! 😀
I make the christmas cake, paula makes the gingerbread house. We are very domesticated like the Waltons here.
@John K wrote:
I make the christmas cake, paula makes the gingerbread house. We are very domesticated like the Waltons here.
John, Dave is very domesticated as well, he does all the housework (he knows which side his bread's buttered on) but he does draw the line at cooking, that's my job apparently!! 🙄
Caroline
