1. Soak 875g sultanas, 138g currents, 275g mixed peel in 150ml Earl Grey tea over night. Cover with clingfilm.
2. This takes 9inch/24cm spring form tin. Oven at 130C for fan assisted ovens. Line with a double thickness of brown paper and single thickness of baking parchment. I use the peg to hold it in place, quite ingenious I think. The paper must stand 10cm above the rim of the tin.
3. Soften 281g butter.
4. Cream together 244g brown sugar.
5. Grate the rind of one orange and one lemon.
6. Add one egg at a time making sure you mix well after each one.
7. Then add 2 and a half tbspn marmalade.
8. Add1 1/4 tspn mixed spice.
1/4 tspn cinnamon
1/4 tspn nutmeg
1 tspn almond extract.
9. Add and thoroughly mix fruit and flour alternately. Towards the end it will take a lot of mixing to make sure it's all incorporated.
10. Put into prepared tin and bake for 3 hours on 130 C (for fan ovens). Obviously take the peg off before you put it in the oven!!!
11. It is ready when the skewer comes out clean.
12. When cake is cooked immediately brush with earl grey tea and wrap it in the tin with double thickness of tin foil. This is the trick to it being really moist.
13. When cake is completely cold (which it isn't yet and it was baked last night), remove from tin and wrap in foil and baking parchment for 3 weeks ready for the marzipan.
So tempting to want to eat it right away, the smells all over the house last night and today are amazing.
6 comments:
Mmm, looks lovely, send me over a bit!! Your early though, very organised. Ive the ingredients in for mine but wont be making it yet. Too tempting to eat it immediately, I too love the smell all over the house. The WI recipe I use requires you to cook the cake at a very low temp for 8 hours so the smell is all over the house for ages. Having said that, the ingredients are nearly double your amounts so its a much bigger cake so would need cooking for longer. Doesnt it really make you feel like Christmas is coming? I hate the winter, Im a summer bunny but I love Christmas, my favourite.
What size tin do you use then? I use a 9 inch tin, which is pretty big. 130C is pretty low too though. Does your kitchenaid cope with that mixing? I normally do it last week of Oct, but thought I would do it a week earlier. I think the longer it sits the better.
Absolutely feel like Christmas is on the way. Love this time of year. The run up to Christmas is my favourite too.
Glad you're up to blogging.
Cant remember the size of the tin, Ive about 8 or 9 tins of various sizes, would have to get it out but in no shape to hoke in the cupboard right now!
The kitchenaid could mix cement, it really is a work horse, its got a very powerful motor and is perfect for large heavy quantities.
Re the blogging - its proabably the only thing Im up to at the minute! Im propped up on the sofa with the laptop on my knee whilst Ronnie & Connor do everything for me - have to enjoy it while it lasts!!!
Oh Pauline that cake looks lovely and I bet it smells sooo good. I remember my mum making Christmas cakes this time of year and the house just smelling amazing. She didnt just make one for herself but also for her brother and sister, she made for 2 of her friends and then she also made the prudential man who came round and collected the insurance money every Friday and the gas man who emptied the metre, one cause they loved the smell when they came round. So we had that smell around our house for about 2 weeks!!! hahaha. She made one every other day!! haha
Enjoy the rest Lisa - make so they do EVERYTHING!!
Stuart was telling me the other day I should sell my Christmas cakes. I couldn't be bothered baking that many. Good on your mum for being so willing to bake all those cakes for everyone. Your insurance man wasn't called Dennis was he?
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