Traditional Christmas Cake

Traditional Christmas Cake Recipe

Ingredients

You will need:- 20cm cake tin, x3 mixing bowls, electric whisk, grater, rolling pin, saucepan and sieve.

For the Cake

• 500g dried mixed fruit
• 60g glace cherries
• 80ml cold tea
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 175g salted butter
• 175g dark brown sugar
• 1tbsp black treacle
• 3 large free range eggs
• 175g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 60g chopped walnuts (optional)

To Decorate

• 400g ready to roll marzipan
• 400g ready to roll white icing
• Apricot jam
• Icing sugar to dust

Method

1. Zest and juice the orange and lemon taking care to remove all pips. Mix in the dried fruit, glace cherries and cold tea. Ensure all of the fruit is covered and leave to soak overnight.
2. Next day – pre-heat the oven to 150°C, Gas Mark 3 and grease a 20cm cake tin
3. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and black treacle until light and fluffy.
4. Gradually add the eggs one at a time.
5.  In a separate bowl sieve the flour and combine with the mixed spice.  Gradually fold the dry ingredients into the cake mixture.
6. Gently fold in the soaked fruit mix with all of the liquid along with the chopped walnuts if you choose to include them.
7.  Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth out the surface. Bake for 2 hours until golden in colour and a skewer comes out clean. 
8. Once cooked leave to cool in the tin for an hour before turning our onto a wire rack.   
9. To decorate: Gently heat the apricot jam in a saucepan until it is soft enough to spread.  
10. Spread a thin layer over the whole cake.  Lightly dust a clean work surface with icing sugar and roll out the marzipan to the same thickness of a pound coin.  Cover the cake and smooth out any air pockets.  Cut away any excess.
11. Do the same with the white ready to roll icing.
12. Decorate as you wish.