Easy Christmas Cake Food

EASY CHRISTMAS CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• Place the dried fruit, zest, butter, sugar and alcohol in a large pan
• Stir well over a medium heat until combined well and boiling.
• Lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for 5 minutes or so.
• Decant the mixture into a large bowl and leave to cool. Leave this for around an hour to cool.
• While the mixture cools preheat the oven to 150°C or gas mark 2.
• Line a 20cm cake tin using greaseproof paper, and surround the outside of the tin with two layers of newspaper. You can secure this with string.
• Add the rest of the ingredients to the fruit mixture in the bowl. Stir all the remaining ingredients in, making sure there are no lumps of flour.
• Place in the prepared tin.
• Use a spatula or spoon to level the mixture off so that is fills the space and is level.
• Place the cake mix in the oven and cook for 2 hours.
• Remove the cake from the oven and poke a few holes in the top. Be careful as steam may come out.
• Drizzle with a good splash of alcohol and set to one side.
• After it has cooled, peel off the surrounding paper and wrap the cake in cling film. This can keep for months, but we'd recommend topping it up with alcohol every fortnight or so.

CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, combine cherries, citrus peel, raisins, currants, dates, and almonds. Stir in brandy; let stand 2 hours, or overnight. Dredge soaked fruit with 1/2 cup flour.
• Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Grease an 8x8x3 inch fruit cake pan, line with parchment paper, and grease again. In a small bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, baking soda, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream butter until light. Gradually blend in brown sugar and eggs. Mix together molasses and apple juice. Beat into butter mixture alternately with flour mixture, making 4 dry and 3 liquid additions. Fold in floured fruit. Turn batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. Remove from pan, and lift off paper. Cool cake completely, then wrap loosely in waxed paper. Store in an airtight container.

CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla, lime juice, and lime zest. Add the eggs 1 at a time, and incorporate well. Combine bread crumbs, flour, all the spices, baking powder, and salt. Combine rum and port. Add flour mixture alternately with rum/port mixture into the batter. Fold in the chopped marinated fruit.
• Prepare 1 (9-inch) cake pan or 2 spring form pans by lining bottom and sides with parchment paper. Fill the pan 3/4 of the way and bake until a skewer comes out of the center of the cake clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
• Put raisins, prunes, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla beans in a glass jar and cover with mixture of equal parts Jamaican white rum, Jamaican spiced rum, and Port. Cover with a tight fitting lid, label, and date the jar. Put in a cool, dry cupboard. From time to time, check the fruits to see if more liquor is needed, as the fruits will plump and soak up the liquid.
• Keep the fruit covered in liquor. It is best to allow the fruit to marinate for at least 1 month for best flavor.