Boiled Christmas Cake

Oops, I almost forgot the Christmas Cake.

Christmas isn't Christmas without Christmas cake!

Traditionally, Christmas cake is filled with fruit and liquor,

and it should be made in September, or there abouts.

As a child, I remember my mother and my aunt

getting together to make the family Christmas cake at Michaelmas,

which if my memory serves me correctly is in September.

Once baked, it was stored away in the pantry and

once a week my mother would 'bless it' with brandy.

We ended up with a fabulously moist, drunken cake.

Mmm mm mmmm mm m.

However, if you didn't make the cake in September,

here's a rush job that you can make

shortly before the day of celebration that is just as good,

almost...

.

Ingredients:
350g dried soft prunes chopped
250g raisins
125g sultanas
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g dark muscovado sugar
175g honey
125ml coffee liqueur
zest and juice of 2 oranges
5ml mixed spice
3 large eggs, beaten
150g cake flour
100g ground almonds
2.5ml baking powder
2.5ml bicarbonate of soda

Method:
Line the sides and bottom of a 20cm, 9cm deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the parchment into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself. The height of the strips protects the cake, which will rise above the side of the tin, from catching on the outside of the cake tin.

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Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange juice, orange zest and mixed spice into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it comes to a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer gently for ten minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

.

Preheat the oven to 150C

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After 30 minutes and the mixture has cooled a little, add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate soda, and mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon until the ingredients have combined.

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Pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer to the oven and bake for 1 hour 45 minute to 2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a metal skewer into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.

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Place the cake on a cooling rack, and once the cake has cooled, remove it from the baking tin.

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Store in an airtight container until the day of serving. Although it is traditional to decorate the Christmas cake with marzipan and glucose icing, this cake is more suitable for royal icing, or just decorating with pre-made or bought edible decorations.