Mary Berrys Classic Christmas Cake Food

MARY BERRY'S CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake, place all the dried fruit, including the cherries, into a large mixing bowl, pour over the brandy and stir in the orange zest. Cover with clingfilm and leave to soak for three days, stirring daily.
• Grease and line a 23cm/9in deep, round tin with a double layer of greased greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1.
• Measure the butter, sugar, eggs, treacle and almonds into a very large bowl and beat well (preferably with an electric free-standing mixer). Add the flour and ground spice and mix thoroughly until blended. Stir in the soaked fruit. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and level the surface.
• Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 4-4½ hours, or until the cake feels firm to the touch and is a rich golden brown. Check after two hours, and if the cake is a perfect colour, cover with foil. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
• When cool, pierce the cake at intervals with a fine skewer and feed with a little extra brandy. Wrap the completely cold cake in a double layer of greaseproof paper and again in foil and store in a cool place for up to three months, feeding at intervals with more brandy. (Don't remove the lining paper when storing as this helps to keep the cake moist.)
• The week before you want to serve, begin covering the cake.
• For the covering, stand the cake upside down, flat side uppermost, on a cake board which is 5cm/2in larger than the size of the cake.
• Brush the sides and the top of the cake with the warm apricot jam.
• Liberally dust a work surface with icing sugar and then roll out the marzipan to about 5cm/2in larger than the surface of the cake. Keep moving the marzipan as you roll, checking that it is not sticking to the work surface. Dust the work surface with more icing sugar as necessary.
• Carefully lift the marzipan over the cake using a rolling pin. Gently level and smooth the top of the paste with the rolling pin, then ease the marzipan down the sides of the cake, smoothing it at the same time. If you are careful, you should be able to cover the cake with no excess marzipan to trim but, if necessary, neatly trim excess marzipan from the base of the cake with a small sharp knife. Cover the cake loosely with baking parchment and leave for a few days to dry out before adding the royal icing.
• For the royal icing, whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until they become frothy. Mix in the sifted icing sugar a tablespoonful at a time. You can do this with a hand-held electric whisk, but keep the speed low.
• Stir in the lemon juice and glycerine and beat the icing until it is very stiff and white and stands up in peaks.
• Cover the surface of the icing tightly with clingfilm and keep in a cool place until needed.
• To ice the cake, place all the icing onto the top of the cake. Spread evenly over the top and sides of the cake with a palette knife. For a snow-peak effect, use a smaller palette knife to rough up the icing.
• Leave the cake loosely covered overnight for the icing to harden a little, then wrap or store in an airtight container in a cool place until needed.

MARY BERRY'S CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• Put all the dried fruit in a container, pour over the sherry and stir in the orange zest. Cover with a lid, and leave to soak for 3 days, stirring daily. Grease and line a 23cm (9in) deep round tin with a double layer of greased greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 140C, 120C fan, gas 1.
• Measure the butter, sugar, eggs, treacle and almonds into a very large bowl and beat well. Add the flours and mixed spice and mix thoroughly until blended. Stir in the soaked fruit. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and level the surface.
• Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 4-4½ hours or until the cake feels firm to the touch and is a rich golden brown. Check after 2 hours, and, if the cake is a perfect colour, cover with foil. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
• When cool, pierce the cake at intervals with a fine skewer and feed with a little extra sherry. Wrap the completely cold cake in a double layer of greaseproof paper and again in foil and store in a cool place for up to 3 months, feeding at intervals with more sherry. Don't remove the lining paper when storing as this helps to keep the cake moist.
• When you're ready to decorate the cake warm the apricot jam in a small saucepan or briefly in the microwave. Roll the almond paste to a thin circle that is bigger than your cake and will allow the sides to be covered. Alternatively, some people prefer a thicker disc of almond paste that sits on top of the cake, in this instance roll it to approximately 23cm diameter.
• Brush the cake all over with the warm jam then cover the with almond paste and use a cake smoother to make the paste flush with the cake. Spread the cake with royal icing using a small palette knife. You can opt for a completely smooth texture, or use the palette knife to flick the icing upwards and create peaks.
• Alternatively, you can use the back of a spoon to create texture by pushing it against the icing and pulling away from the cake. Leave to set, then dust with icing sugar and top with your chosen cake topper or decoration.

MARY BERRY'S GINGERBREAD CAKE

Steps:

• This mix makes enough to fill 2 x standard 7inch Victoria sandwitch tins or 1 x 10inch diameter tin. Grease and base line your tin(s) with baking paper; preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.
• Gently heat the margarine, sugar and treacle together in a pan, stirring until smooth. Allow to cool a little.
• In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and ground spices. Pour in the treacle mix and stir thoroughly to combine. Mince the stem ginger finely and stir with the eggs into the mix.
• Warm the milk gently in a saucepan, stirring gently to avoid it burning at the base of the pan. Add the bicarb of soda and let it foam a little. Stir into the gingerbread mixture until well blended.
• Pour into the prepared tin(s).
• Baking time: for 2x 7 inch cakes is 25-30mins (bake both together). For 1x 10inch cake bake for approx 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• This cake keeps really well in an airtight tin, and actually improves over the first 2-3 days. Enjoy!