White Christmas Cake

It’s Christmas according to our local shops all mixed up with Halloween. But it did remind me to get prepared for my Christmas Cake, now is the time to soak your fruit in brandy or a spirit of your choice!

This White Christmas Cake has distinct flavours of apricot, fine cut citrus peel and juicy sultanas, almonds and a generous amount of mixed spice, all infused with brandy.

Here's a ‘naked’ cake (decorate it as you desire) cut into, to show the lighter fruit and mixture.  

Text Only Printable Recipe
Ingredients:

Pre bake week ahead:
8oz (225g) Sultanas
6oz (170g) Dried apricots
4oz (110) Candied citrus peel (fine cut)
All soaked in Brandy (½ cup)

Rinse and check over fruit for any stalks etc. Put into a small bowl with brandy and cover, stir each day to plump up the fruit.

White fruit mix above and compare this to a traditional mix. (They both look lovely to me.)

Cake :

8oz (225g) Butter
8oz (225g)Golden caster sugar
4  Large eggs
8oz (225g) Plain flour
2 tsp Mixed spice
2oz (55g) Ground almonds
4oz (110g) Flaked almonds

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1

Grease cake tin. I like using a round 7 x 4 inch tin and I add greaseproof paper all around and cut a piece for the top to stop overbrowning.

Cream the sugar and butter together, add the  eggs one at a time and beat well. Fold in the flour and mixed spice. Pour any excess brandy juices into the cake mix and stir.  Pour the ground almonds over the fruit and stir gently, coating the fruit. Finally fold the fruit and almonds into the cake mix and put into cake tin and into the oven.

The cake takes about 3 hours to cook but check after 1 hour and add your extra greaseproof top to stop the top from overbrowning, reduce oven temperature; 120c/100c Fan/250F/Gas Mark ½ . These cakes take longer to cook due to the height/depth of the cake. Cook until a skewer comes cleanly out.

Inverted cake ready for brandy.

Allow to cool and start ‘feeding’ with brandy. To do this prick over base with a fork, pour brandy over; about 2 tbsp on the top and the following week turn cake over and repeat. Feed cake like this at least a week apart and twice more before icing.

For a traditional cake with slightly more fruit to cake ratio then Delia’s your girl:

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/the-classic-christmas-cake.html

Tips

I used to follow an old recipe with glacé pineapple but it was pretty tasteless.  Get the best candied citrus peel and finely chop, it should remind you of orange and lemon tang, not the hard tasteless bits which seem to be mainly candied pith you get in cheaper versions. Waitrose have a very good Italian brand and Crazy Jack do an organic one.

Thanks 

A Large Slice 

What I really like about my white fruit cake is that  it makes a nice contrast to all the dark fruit already in mince pies and Christmas pudding. The photo shows the fruit and nuts in a rather large slice but I had to cut into it to show you, didn’t I? mmmmmm.....

So much for the old sugarcraft days - how lazy can you get ?- just a few silver balls, can't wait to get my teeth into that.  Marzipaned and iced in November.

Product tasting started 1st December!

 

Background Artwork by Amy and Lars Heeren, the Netherlands.