Christmas Cake..........It's that time.............Who is signing up this year...............

[UCM]

You have a month or so to buy ingredients but this is a copy of what I wrote last year. Please use this thread to tell us of fantastic recipes and to add the general lovliness of anticipation

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.

Well ???????

I'm doing mine today! I've gone for this one but substituted whisky as it's all the booze we have in the house! (And I'm thinking whisky and citrus go well together, eh?)

The dc are complaining that the whisky stinks so we are doing a children's christmas cake, a choc yule log nearer the time (obv) which will be glutenand egg free in honour of dd!

finally got round to making mine today.

Has everyone else been marzipanning yet? I'm doing mine tonight and am dreading it, I hear it's a bit tricky!

I've only fed mine once!How often has everyone else fed thiers? I was going to feed it this week & marzipan next week.... ice around the 22nd.

I haven't fed mine at all. The fruit was marinated in a heady mixture of brandy, liqueurs and strange Eastern European alcoholic drinks and I reckoned that it was already over the drink drive limit without further feeding. I shall marzipan it next week - with bought marzipan. I used to make it, but now, working full time, something had to give.

I didn't feed mine either, I did a little straight after it was cooked but not since. I marzipanned it yesterday and it went well - phew!

Suggestions for decorating the cake please!
Is royal icing hard to make? I'm not keen on the fondant, would rather break my teeth of the real stuff

Ha I'm following you around Chippy.

I did mine on the weekend. I want to show it off.I feel an end of year MNWI Christmas crafts and baking comp coming on.................

Set up a photo page thingy?

I've marzipaned my cake this week and will ice it soon.

Royal Icing isn't all that hard but fondant is easier.

To make about 500g royal icing you'll need:

14g Egg White powder
90ml water
500g Icing sugar
Glycerine (about a tsp)

Scald the utensils to make sure they aren't greasy.

Mix the egg white powder and water in a bowl or cup then strain through a small sieve to get the lumps out.

Sieve the icing sugar. Stir in about a third. Keep slowly adding the icing and with the minimum amount of sugar and maximum amount of beating, bring it to a peak (make it so that it peaks and doesn't drop down when pulled up with a spoon). The glycerine is optional but I recommend it to get soft icing.

Icing a smooth royal iced cake is hard but doing it with a rough snow effect is a doddle.

Marzipaning isn't that bad. You can do each side seperately if you are putting icing over the top. It's best to spread boiled apricot jam underneath to stop anything fermenting. It helps the marzipan stick to the cake, too.

I stuck my marzipan on with egg yolk. I shall be icing soon...

Is now about the right time to marzipan, then? And how long do you leave it between marzipanning and icing? The christmas cakes I've made in the past have all had a nut / dried fruit topping but this year I've made two; one for us and one for the ILs who really likke icing and marzi.

You can now, yes. You need to allow a minimum of 24 hours between marzipaning and icing. I prefer at least 48. To get a nice flat top, I turn my cake upside down to decorate it.

I'm leaving mine about a week before I ice (eek, it's a week today!) to let the marzipan dry a bit, otherwise if you keep the cake for a while the oil comes out of the marzi and through the icing making yellow patches.

A tip for super white royal icing is to add a tiny drip of blue colouring otherwise it can look a bit yellow, especially if you don't eat it all within 3 days!

I've just iced mine (pic in profile). I don't know what to decorate it with though - I was going to have a go at doing modelling paste but I don't know what to make...