Christmas Cake Club - Anyone who wants to join.......

[UCM]

I am going to buy the fruit to soak this weekend (needs to be in sherry for a week) so I thought I would pass my recipe on to anyone who wants it. But anyone who is making their own cake please feel free to pass on tips or your own recipe, like what alternative alcohol do you use??

6oz sultanas
6oz raisins
4oz currants
4oz glacecherries
3oz mixed peel
1/4 pint sherry
6oz butter
6oz soft brown sugar
4 eggs
4oz SR flour
4oz plain flour
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1oz ground almonds

Mix together all fruit. pour sherry over and leave to soak for 1 week, covered. Stir frequently until required.

Grease & line a 7 - 8 inch cake tin

Method

Cream butter & sugar until soft & fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour, salt & ground almonds. Drain off any liquid from the fruit and mix fruit into mixture stirring until well blended. Put into prepared tin, smooth top and bake just below middle of oven for 1 hour on gas mark 3. Then cover with foil and reduce oven to gas mark 2 and cook for a further 1.5 hours until firm to touch. Leave to stand in tin until nearly cold. remove from tin, prick well and pour over liquid from dried fruit. Wrap in foil or greaseproof paper and leave to mature until a few days before christmas, then marzipan & ice.

Tips: I don't like almonds so didn't use em. I also put some chocolate liqueur in with the sherry. also I don't like marzipan so didn't ice, but did make one for a relative which I did ice and it was easy. I have never made a christmas cake before and I have to say this recipe works like a dream.

I thought we could have an 'add booze to Christmas Cake night, where you drip some more booze in once a week and drink some as well

Have just walked to shops with 3 children in tow and bought my fruit. It is soaking now. Ended up using sherry as I already had it from last year's trifle. I am a bit worried because I am in Australia and the average is 30 degrees at moment and will soon be high 30s. Will it be okay to store in cupboard for the feeding in those temps??

Am I too late? Why does it have to be made so far in advance? Not sure if I can get many of the ingredients though, it will have to be a tropical variation of what's available here (Brazil). Christmas was so bl*y awful last year food wise - a variation of ham and cheese for a week, that this year I am getting prepared. I've imported mincemeat so I can make the pies and have ordered Cadburys chocolate...so far. Hmm, that doesn't sound like much, better do some more shopping around.

Albert not sure myself why it has to be made so far in advance. I am folowing the guidance of UCM and other Christmas cake experts on here.

The earlier in advance you make it the better it tastes (more brandy, see?)

DH and I got engaged in September and by October my mother had made all 4 wedding cakes ... using the recipe I am now using for my Christmas cake ... we got married the following July and then 2 years after that we used the top tier for DS's christening .... It was fabulous at the wedding but even better at the christening ....

In two weeks time I will be making the christmas puds ... My mum usually makes 4 in one go, gives 2 away, uses 1 that Christmas and the other the following Christmas ...
I'll make 2 this year and give one to MIL (again to keep her loving me )

ghosty have you got the pud recipe?? May as well give that a go too . Only us for Christmas so if I manage to stuff it up there will be no witnesses .

Just "fed" mine...more whiskey...really smells potent! Are you sure you can't over feed these things!

OK ... Christmas Pudding Recipe - courtesy of ghosty's mum

I have copied this out EXACTLY as she wrote it by hand 4 years ago (my words in brackets)... she faxed it to me (my mum isn't a computer whizz!) So please allow for the bossy, mumlike wording ... she is lovely and knows her stuff when it comes to baking

"These quantities will fill 4 x 1 pint basins, 3 x 1.5 pint basins or 2 x 2 pint basins.

1/2 lb currants
1/2 lb sultanas
1/2 lb raisins
1/2 cup of brandy
1/2 cup of orange juice
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 lb soft brown sugar
6 oz unsalted butter
5 eggs
1/2 wine glass of brandy
4 oz plain flour
4 oz fresh white breadcurmbs
2 oz mixed peel
1 oz slivered almonds
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Rind of 1 lemon

The currants, raisins and sultanas will need washing even if the packet says 'washed' or 'ready to use' as they are always thick with oily gunge.
Wash under running warm water and dry thoroughly by spreading out on a table or work surface and patting with kitchen paper and clean teatowel. (this seems a faff but the gunk that comes off them is amazing).
Once dry and mixed in a bowl, soak the dried fruit overnight (at least) in 1/2 cup brandy, the orange juice and lemon juice.
Next day: Beat the sugar and butter to a cream until light and fluffy. Add flour, spices, fruit and crumbs and lemon rind. Mix well.
Beat the eggs in a separate basin for 10 minutes and add the brandy. Pour the egg mixture over the other mixture and mix well for 20 minutes (you need a strong arm for this!!!!! or a Kenwood mixer is what my mum uses).
Grease the basins liberally with butter and fill each one to 2/3 full. Cover with a pleated square of grease proof paper - the pleats will accommodate the rising of the pudding during cooking - and a square of cheesecloth. Tie the cloth and paper down over the rim of the basin with string. Now lift opposite corners of the cloth and tie together on top. Trim off excess paper and Voila!
(Mum then kindly drew a picture for me of what they should look like )
Stand each basin in a saucepan of water to half its depth. Bring to the boil and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat and allow to bubble slowly for about 8 hours. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL DRY! When they are cool you may safely store them in the grocery cupboard for several years! This Christmas I will be using the one of a batch I made 3 years ago!"

"On the day, stand the pudding in a saucepan of water and simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours till heated through. Serve with brandy butter or cream or spicy brandy custard."

And then she wrote, "Go for it Meg, impress the pants off those Kiwis!!!"

She is a star

I can post the spicy brandy custard recipe too if you like.

It is a fab recipe, takes a long time, but really worth it

Now that DOES sound gorg!!

ooooh, well done the bakers / feeders. Ghosty you do know a lot, your mum has you well trained. And like the tone of her recipe - i need these small details. I was also wondering about the october start date Albert. If it is all about getting more alcohol into the cake then why do we only put a little in when 'feeding' it, why not drench it?

can i also ask about the beating of the butter/sugar. Does everyone have an electric thing? i don't and worry that i won't get enough air into it and it won't rise. I am planning to but an electric whisk but don;t think i will get it before thursday, my allocated baking day. I have a hand blender?

planning to buy (not but) and electric whisk!

Thanks for the pud recipe ghosty

Oooh. Ghosty that's ace. Can we have the custard recipe too? I'm going to make 4 puddings and 2 christmas cakes. I'm off to the shops to get the fruit once I've translated ounces into Aussie.

UCM - My UCM-Xmas cake is going to be brandy.

OK, done. I have a bowl brewing for the pud and a bowl brewing for cake number 1. I've mysteriously already run out of brandy. I'm doing 2 cakes, so had better go and get lots more.

Heh Heh Arf, you are supposed to put it in the cake silly!

My cake is sitting waiting for a feed, I am going to feed it with rum as I used sherry for the soaking of fruit and the initial pouring over the top.

Tis feed time on Saturday for mine.

Spicy Brandy Custard

2 heaped dessert spoons cornflour
2 spoons sugar (NB she doesn't specify what kind of spoons but last time I did this I used dessert spoons)

Make a paste of these with a little milk (about 3/4 cup)
Heat 1 1/2 pints milk to just below boiling point then add the paste. Cook slowly over a low heat until the custard thickens. Now add mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Adjust sugar to taste. Last of all add a slug of brandy (to taste ).

Turn the pudding out on to a plate, pour bandy over it and light.

Admire the flame () then serve immediately with the warm custard.

You can see why my mother was pissed every Christmas day can't you???

oooh that sounds like lovely custard!!!!!! I'm not going to make a pudding cause no one will eat it...except me......hmmmmmmmm maybe I might give it a whirl......I mean...just to test out the recipe....and I would need SOMETHING to go with the custard....

Still haven't had a chance to make the cake, but just wanted to share a previous experience of feeding the cake too much brandy.

A couple of years ago I made two cakes and put them in airtight tins. I must have fed them so often with brandy, that by the time xmas came around they were mushy and one had gone mouldy!

I wondered if any more experienced MN cake makers would know why this happened and advise me on how to avoid it this time...

Did you wrap the cake in greaseproof paper GQM? Did you wait till it was cold before you put it away?

GQM I am worried too about the feeding and the going mouldy.

General questin - do you leave cake in tin and wrap with greaseproof paper than put in airtight container?? How do the cakes last for so many weeks without going hard or mouldy??

hello all. I made mine at the weekend. I usually use the Be-ro recipe or my grandmothers but this year I thought I'd try Delias. It seems to have turned out well. Its now wrapped and in a, air tight box. Will feed it a bit over the next few weeks but don't want it too alchy as the kids love it.
Did you decide on which night was feeding night?

The thing is, the cake should be more fruit than cake if you know what I mean? My cake is mainly fruit stuck together with cake ...
I don't know why they don't go mouldy ... like I said, we had the top tier of my wedding cake 2 years after we got married and it was fine ....
Yes, take it out of the tin ... wait for it to go cold first though (I let my cake cool in the tin overnight), then wrap it in greaseproof paper, leaving the top free but covered IYSWIM so you can open it, then put it in the container ... Make sure the container is totally DRY ...

Have just realised that I got my pint to fl oz conversion wrong and am soaking my cake in a pint of brandy .

DP was dispatched to get another bottle (for fear of me looking a total alchie at the off-licence) and is now drinking it . I have decanted off my excess brandy and will use it for feeding. Me and the cake.

Ghosty. Oooooh your custard recipe is great. Even more brandy you say? I'm going to make lashings.

UCM, I'm about to start this morning, with unquestionable faith in your recipe. However, when I came to weigh out the fruit this morning, it doesn't look, erm, like a lot.

Are you sure it's foolproof? Like ghosty says, I thought it should be mostly fruit held together by a bit of cake mixture. Please reassure!

Ok, I hate cherries so put some more fruit in instead. Also the 1/4 pint of sherry is a bit pants, used half a bottle. The fruit does swell up as well. Funnily enough, when I made the cake mixture I thought 'god there is too much fruit'.

It does only make 1 8" cake, so we are not looking at a plate sized cake here.

Twill be fine.

Hi ghosty, I did wrap it in greaseproof paper and did put it in an airtight tin. I think the secret must be to make sure it isn't too "wet" when it is in the tin, and dry it out a bit before icing at the last minute.

Last time I only realised the mould the night before we went away to MIL's house for xmas. I had promised to bring this cake as our contribution to xmas.

So I had to just sliced the green bit off and iced over the top. I felt so bad when everyone complimented the cake.

BTW I am pretty sure it is safe, if a bit unappetising.