Chai Berry Orange Christmas Cake Food

CHAI & BERRY ORANGE CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• Soak the dried fruit in strong brewed Baby, It's Cold Outside Chai Tea for at least 2 hours.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, eggs and cinnamon until smooth. Mix in the fruit, cranberries and orange zest until nicely distributed. Then sift the flour and fold it into the batter.
• Decant the mixture into lined round cake tin and smooth the surface with a spatula.
• Bake at 150C for 1.5 - 2 hours or until a skewer comes out of the cake clean.
• Cool the cake on a wire rack before glazing.
• For the glaze: heat 1 cup of water and brew 2 Berry Orange tea bags for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags, boil the tea in a pan and add 1 cup of sugar. Heat on low for 10 minutes until all the sugar has dissolved and the volume reduced by half.
• Let it cool for 20 minutes before drizzling over the cake. Keep in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

CRANBERRY CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Mix together dry ingredients.
• Add milk and melted butter, stir, this will be lumpy and thick.
• Mix in Cranberries.
• Pour in greased 8x8 pan.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes.
• Double this recipe and use a 9x13 pan.
• Serve with Butter Sauce.
• Bring 1 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup whipping cream and 1/2 cup butter to a boil in a sauce pan.
• Boil for 10 minutes, stirring continuously.

THE GRINCH CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• Special Equipment Needed:.
• Gel food coloring; set of nine round cookie cutters in graduated sizes; piping bags; an Ateco piping tip #849 (or any large star tip); extra-tall cake scraper (14" at least-you can also use a quilting ruler!); a candy thermometer.
• Bake the Gingerbread Cake:.
• Preheat your oven to 350°. Prepare four 6"x3" pans by spraying the bottoms with cooking spray and laying a baking paper round at the bottom of each.
• Combine your dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Place your butter, white sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add your eggs in one at a time until all six are incorporated, then stream in your molasses and add the vanilla, beating another 30 seconds to make sure everything is homogenous.
• Scrape the bottom of the bowl, then add your dry ingredients in three additions alternating with your milk, starting and ending with the dry mix. Stop the mixer as soon as you see no more streaks in the batter.
• Divide your batter between the four prepared pans and bake for 45-55 minutes-you'll know the cakes are baked through when you press gently on the top and the cake springs back.
• A general note about this batter: we're using a lot of liquid here, which keeps the cake super moist and yummy. This can cause the cake to bake up with a slight dip in the top instead of a dome. Don't worry if you see that happen, just trim the topmost edges of the cake away when you're getting ready to cut your layers, and when you are cutting circles out of the middle of your layers you can use the larger cookie cutters to cut out any caramelization or even holes in the layers left from the top!
• Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before using a small paring knife to free the sides from the pan and removing the cake. Allow to come to room temperature, then wrap in plastic and allow to chill all the way through in the refrigerator before leveling and torting, ideally for at least 2 hours.
• Bake the Green Eggnog Cake:.
• Preheat your oven to 350°. Prepare two 6"x3" pans by spraying the bottoms with cooking spray and laying a baking paper round at the bottom of each.
• Combine your dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Place your butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add your eggs in one at a time until all four are incorporated, then add the vanilla, beating another 30 seconds to make sure everything is homogenous.
• Combine your eggnog with your green food coloring gel and set aside.
• Scrape the bottom of the bowl, then add your dry ingredients in three additions alternating with your eggnog, starting and ending with the dry mix. Stop the mixer as soon as you see no more streaks in the batter.
• Divide your batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 40-50 minutes-you'll know the cakes are baked through when you press gently on the top and the cake springs back.
• Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before using a small paring knife to free the sides from the pan and removing the cake. Allow to come to room temperature, then wrap in plastic and allow to chill all the way through in the refrigerator before leveling and torting, ideally for at least 2 hours.
• Make the Buttercream:.
• Place the sugar, brown sugar, and water in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Use a pastry brush dipped in water to melt the sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan. When the syrup begins to boil, reduce the heat to low and insert a candy thermometer into the syrup. Allow it to continue to boil while moving on to the next step.
• Place the egg whites in the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip the whites until frothy, then sprinkle in the cream of tartar (this improves the strength of the meringue).
• Keeping an eye on the temperature of the sugar syrup, increase the speed of the mixer to high to achieve stiff peaks. Ideally, you will time this to coincide with the sugar syrup reaching 248°-250° F, the Firm Ball Stage. If your whites reach stiff peaks before the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature, reduce the mixer speed to the lowest setting and leave running until the syrup is ready.
• When the syrup reaches 248°-250° F, increase the mixer speed to the highest setting. Remove the saucepan from the heat and slowly pour the hot syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg whites, being very careful to avoid allowing the stream to hit the whisk and spatter. Pour slowly and steadily until all the syrup has been added, and continue beating the meringue until it becomes light and fluffy and holds its shape exactly when the beater is removed, roughly 3-5 minutes.
• After this time, the meringue may still be hot-if so, place the bowl in the refrigerator (or freezer) for 8-10 minutes until it has cooled all the way through.
• When the meringue has cooled, place the bowl back on the mixer, replacing the whisk with the paddle attachment. Begin mixing on low, and add the butter 1/4 cup (half a stick) at a time, beating well after each addition. Once the butter is added, increase the speed to medium and beat the buttercream until it becomes light and fluffy. It may look soupy or curdled shortly after all the butter is added-this is okay! Just keep on beating it and it will whip up into a light, fluffy cloud.
• While the buttercream is whipping up, mix your cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and salt together in a small bowl. Add to your buttercream all at once and beat on low speed until incorporated.
• Cut Your Layers:.
• Level and torte each of the 4 gingerbread cakes into 3 layers for a total of 12. Level and torte your green eggnog cake into 3 layers each for a total of 6, trying to keep these layers the same thickness as the gingerbread layers.
• Using your 9 round cutters, cut one circle for each cutter size out of the middle of 8 of your gingerbread cakes, reserving the other 3. Then, using the second-smallest cutter, cut a round out of the middle of 2 more gingerbread rounds (these layers will create the trunk of your tree), leaving just 1 last layer whole. Discard the small rounds you've removed (read: snack away!).
• Use the 8 larger cutters to cut green rounds out of the green eggnog layers, cutting 2 small rounds out of each layer once you get to the 4 smaller sizes to economize on space. You should wind up with 8 total green rounds of varying sizes. This time, reserve the small rounds, and snack on the scraps left from the layers they were cut from.
• Take the cutter that's two sizes smaller and place it gently on top of each green circle. Press lightly to mark the top of each green circle, and using that as a guide, gently trim the edges of each round at an angle.
• Insert each angled green round into its properly-sized gingerbread layer to keep everything organized, and to prepare for building the cake, arrange your stack of layers stack so the gingerbread layer with the smallest, empty hole goes at the bottom, and then the layers should go from smallest to biggest green round, the opposite of how it will appear when it's finally stacked with buttercream to look like a tree. Top it off with the 2 "trunk" layers, and finally the single whole layer. Wrap the stack in plastic and refrigerate until you're ready to use it.
• Color Your Buttercream:.
• Color two cups of your holiday buttercream with 3-4 drops of your forest green gel color.
• Color half a cup each with 1/2 teaspoon red, 3 drops yellow, and 5-6 drops blue.
• Mix 1/4 cup with a few drops of brown for a tree trunk color.
• Mix 1.5 cups with 1/4 tsp deep pink, and red until the color is as bright as you want it! It's Dr. Seuss, so go a little nuts.
• Place each color in its own piping bag with no tip; you'll cut the tips away as needed to create workable holes.
• Tip: If the buttercream looks broken at any point, microwave for 3 seconds at a time once or twice, mixing by hand each time to re-incorporate.
• Stack Your Cake:.
• Place a small dollop of buttercream on the cake plate or drum you're using as a base and center the single whole cake layer on it. Spread a thin layer of plain, un-colored buttercream on the layer and then place one of the 2 "trunk" layers down. Add another layer of plain buttercream, this time icing around the hole cut out of the middle of the slice.
• Stack the second "trunk" layer on top, use plain buttercream to add a layer of filling, then pipe your brown buttercream into the hole created by those two layers. Fill it a little above the top, then level it with your spatula.
• Now, begin to add your green tree layers. Starting with the layer with the largest green insert, place it on top of the "trunk" layers with the angle you've cut into the edges sloping down. Pipe a ring of plain buttercream around that sloped cake to seal it, then smooth it, trying not to get any plain buttercream on the green part of the cake.
• Now you'll add your Christmas lights! Cut off a very small bit of the tip of your red, blue, green, and yellow piping bags to leave a small hole, and pipe concentric rings of color on top of the green part of the layer, switching up colors as you go and leaving space between each ring. Fill in the gaps with your green, and very gently smooth that section of buttercream down. Add plain buttercream to the gingerbread portion of the layer and smooth to create one level layer of buttercream, then place your next largest green layer on top.
• Continue this process until you run out of green layers. You'll be left with a gingerbread layer with the smallest hole cut into it, but no green cake inside. Fill this gap with yellow buttercream to represent the start at the top of the tree, and smooth out. Ice over the top with a very thin layer of plain buttercream to seal that yellow in, then refrigerate the stacked cake.
• Ice Your Cake:.
• Once your cake has had 15-20 minutes to chill, trim the sides if you'd like.
• If desired, you can also start icing the cake by doing a light coat of plain, un-colored buttercream over the whole cake so that when you apply your colored buttercream you don't have to use very much.
• Using your leftover blue (perhaps cutting a bigger hole in the tip of your piping bag) and your 1.5 cups pinky red, pipe alternating rings of buttercream around the sides of the cake, keeping in mind that you have more red than blue so keep the red sections about 2-3 times taller. It doesn't need to be, and in fact shouldn't be, perfect, since a little unevenness is in keeping with Dr. Seuss' aesthetic!
• Pipe a large dollop of red on the top of the cake and, using a small offset spatula, smooth it down.
• Using a very tall straight edge (you can use a quilting ruler if you don't have a cake scraper tall enough!), smooth down the rings of color on your cake, keeping the scraper level so you don't muddy up your layers of color.
• When you're happy with that, clean up the top of your cake if you need to and refrigerate.
• Finishing Touches:.
• Use an Ateco tip 849 (or any large star tip) and any leftover green buttercream to pipe ruffled puffs around the top of the cake, making pretty buttercream "trees." Pipe a little yellow dot at the top of each tree.
• You can also finish the bottom edge of the cake with a little yellow pearl border like I did, or leave it, your call! Get creative!
• Now you can slice your Seussian masterpiece to reveal your sneaky surprise inside, a stunning Christmas tree that will warm the heart of even the grumpiest of grinches this holiday season!

CHAI CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F/170°C
• Grease and flour a round cake pan (8"/20 cm).
• Stir hot water into Chai Latte until blended. Measure 1/2 cup/125 mL of the chai latte for the cake and set aside 2 tbsp/30 mL for glaze.
• Mix flour, baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Set aside.
• Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until fluffy.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth and blended.
• Gradually beat in flour mixture alternately with 1/2 cup Chai Latte until smooth.
• Pour into pan.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack.
• Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Spread Chai glaze over top of cake, allowing some to drizzle down side. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon.
• For glaze, melt butter in 1-quart/litre saucepan over medium heat.
• Stir in remaining ingredients until smooth. Drizzle glaze on cake. If desired, grate cinnamon on top as garnish.

GRANDMA'S BEST CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• Warm margarine to room temperature Cream the sugars and margarine until smooth and creamy. Add one egg at a time mixing one tablespoon of the flour between each egg (this prevents curdling).
• Blanche Almonds if necessary then add ALL the ingredients EXCEPT the remaining flour stirring well then add the remaining flour folding in well.
• Line an 8-9 inch metal cake tin with greaseproof paper place the mixture in making a bit of a dip in the middle, by doing this the cake will come out more even.
• Cook in a slow oven 150c for approx 3 hours check with a satay stick through the centre to see if its cooked then tip out onto a cake rack to cool.
• I usually cook this in the early afternoon and leave overnight to cool completely, just to make sure that there is no heat in the centre as once you wrap it up if there is, it will sweat and can make the cake go mouldy.
• Wrap in two layers of Foil and keep in a cupboard. at the start of December prick the top of the cake lightly and dribble over a tot of Brandy, reseal and turn over two weeks later.
• Mums idea:.
• Line the tin as usual but also wrap brown paper around the outside tying it tightly with some string leaving the level of the paper higher than the cake so if necessary you can put some paper over the top to stop it browning too much toward the end of cooking.
• Cook this cake late October or Early November.

GLUTEN AND SUGAR FREE CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• Chop dates into small pieces and place in a pan with the water.
• Bring to the boil and simmer over a low heat for approimately 10 minutes until the dates are soft.
• Cool the date mixture.
• Process or beat together the date mixture, oil, ground almonds, spice, eggs and flours until they are well blended.
• Stir in the dried fruit and mix well by hand.
• Place into a lined and greased 6"- 8" cake tin and bake at Gas Mark 3, 330 oF, 170 oC for approximately 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to Gas Mark 1, 290 oF, 145 oC for a further 45 minutes.
• Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a wire tray.
• Remove the lining paper and allow to cool.
• Store in the fridge and eat within 2 weeks, or freeze (in slices).

JAMAICAN CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• One day ahead, in microwaveable bowl, combine raisins, currants, peel, walnuts, prunes and cherries. Add 2/3 cup of the brown sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and cloves.
• Stir in 1/2 cup of the rum. Cover and microwave at High for 10 minutes, stirring twice; let stand overnight. (Or, instead of cooking, let stand in a cool, dry place, stirring occasionally, for 3 weeks.).
• Grease two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans; line with double thickness of waxed paper. Grease paper.
• In large pan, bring fruit mixture and 1/2 cup water to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often.
• Meanwhile, in saucepan, bring granulated sugar and 2 tbsp water to boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to medium and boil for 6 minutes or until thickened, brushing down pan with water to prevent crystals from forming. Pour over fruit mixture, stirring to coat; let cool.
• In bowl, beat butter with remaining brown sugar; beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add fruit mixture, blending well.
• Combine flour, baking powder and salt; fold into fruit mixture. Scrape into pans. Bake in 275F oven for 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hours or until sides come away from pans and tester inserted in centers comes out slightly gooey.
• Puncture each cake several times with skewer. Mix remaining rum with port; pour over cakes. Let cool in pans. Cover with foil; let stand for 3 days. (Cakes can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature or in refrigerator for up to 1 month.).

DECADENTLY RICH PORT AND CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• You will also need: Brown paper- enough to wrap a double layer around the cake tin.
• Use a pair of scissors to cut up the prunes.
• Combine prunes, currants, raisins and 1 cup of the port together in a large bowl and mix well.
• Allow to stand for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, spray a deep 23cm-round (9") cake tin with cooking oil, then line the base and sides of the tin with two layers of baking (silicone) paper- bringing the paper 5cm (2") above the rim of the tin.
• When the fruit has been soaking for two hours, preheat the oven to a slow 160C (310F).
• Add the orange rind, juice and treacle to the fruit mixture and stir to combine.
• Place the chopped chocolate, cherries and walnuts into a mixing bowl.
• Add the sifted flours and spices to this bowl and stir lightly to combine.
• Now, chop the butter into smallish pieces and transfer to a small bowl.
• Beat with an electric mixer until the colour of the butter changes to pale yellow.
• Add vanilla and beat for an extra minute.
• Add sugar and beat until the mixture looks light and creamy and all the sugar crystals have dissolved.
• (This is an important step- if the sugar crystals don't dissolve your cake will develop a crusty top).
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Add the butter and egg mixture to the fruit and mix well.
• Next, add the flour mixture to the fruit, and stir lightly with a wooden spoon until just combined.
• (Do not beat the mixture or the cake will be tough- a light hand ensures a good cake).
• Call in the family and have everyone give the cake a stir while they make a Christmas wish.
• Spoon the batter evenly into the cake tin.
• Run your hand under the tap and then use it to smooth the top of the cake.
• Now, wrap a double thickness of brown paper around the tin and secure it with string.
• Place the cake in the centre of the pre-heated 160c (310F) oven and bake for 3- 3 1/2 hours, or until a skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean.
• Remove the cake from the oven and, while still hot, pour over the extra port.
• Now, wrap the cake (tin and all) in a thick, clean towel.
• Keep wrapped for at least 24 hours, or until the cake is completely cold.
• Store the cake, well covered, in its tin in a cool, dry place- or in the refrigerator if it's really hot where you live.
• Each week before Christmas, use a skewer to poke several holes in the top of the cake and pour over a little more port- this is called'feeding' the cake.
• Close to Christmas, you can ice this cake with the traditional Christmas cake icing (frosting) if you wish, but it will still be spectacularly good without it.
• Serve small portions as this cake is very, very rich.