It's that time of year when the Christmas Cake needs to be made, generally I don't like to think about Christmas til about the 22nd of December, but to get a good cake you gotta go early, made the Pudding in February!!😲😲😂 I use the Mary Berry recipe with a few tweaks, I know tweaking The Berry am I crazy or what!!! In my defence Mary's cake isn't Gluten Free and I like a soft cake so leave out the Almonds and put in extra Glace Cherries! For the purists her recipe is at the link
Mary Berry Christmas Cake
It's a quality recipe that produces a fantastic cake every year, even people who don't like Christmas Cake come back for seconds!
The first bit is quite easy 3 days before you are going to start bung the dried fruit in some Brandy. Another Tweak here. The Berry is a bit Currant heavy for my liking, so I reduce the quantity, bung in a few dried Apricots and Cranberries (well it is Christmas!!). I also like a Raison so put a few in as well. As long as the overall quantity is the same as the recipe all is good. Also to help the wildlife I try and use as much Organic produce as well!!
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| Obviously Organic Brandy is quite expensive, but this is the 3rd year for this bottle! |
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| This part of the process will impart a nice smell to your kitchen although if you have any visitors they will think you are alcoholics!! Not a problem for me as an anti-social old git I don't get many visitors anyway!😃 |
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| A selection of Organic dried fruit, Tesco is pretty reasonable on price for dried fruit especially if you can buy a lot when it's on offer! Good quality as well ignore the butter dish just using it to hold up the fruit! |
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| Didn't really think it through when I took these pics should of Clingfilmed the bowl after the pics! |
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| Side View, still can't see it properly 😂 Orange bits are the zest of a couple of Organic Oranges! |
Right, three days have passed, fruit is looking nicely plump and juicy and I remembered to take the pic after I took the clingfilm off!! Can't say I don't learn from my mistakes! 😂
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| Does look nice though and smells amazing! |
So first job is to line the tins, many years ago I tried to do this myself, this resulted in half a rain forest's worth of Greaseproof being thrown away, several tins being thrown across the room, several bakers throwing a tantrum( well one actually, me!!) and at least three new swear words being invented and lots of old ones being utilised😢😡😂!! So I brought in a glamorous assistant, Margie, to help with the process and she has been doing it magnificently ever since. Margie's help in my cake making usually involves licking the bowl, which she usually attempts before the cake mix has been taken out and rewashing all the washing up that I haven't "done properly"!!! She is a miracle worker in the cake tin lining department!!! It's important that this part is done properly as the cake stays in it's lining paper until it's time to cover in Marzipan.
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| All the good stuff, |
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| Use real Butter, it makes a difference! |
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| This year I used a mix of Light & Dark Muscovado, Soft Brown and a bit of Caster Sugar, mainly because all the different packets were open😂 But any of the Brown Sugars will be fine |
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| Mary's recipe uses plain flour, but obviously with the Gluten attacking my bowels, I use my own secret flour recipe!!! 😂 Only joking I used a mix of Cassava, Buckwheat, Tiger Nut with a couple of spoonfuls of Tapioca Starch, 2 teaspoons of Xanthium Gum also add the mixed spice to this mix. The proportions are up to you, I generally go heavy on the Cassava and Buckwheat with about a quarter Tiger Nut but there is a lot of leeway. I have found through trial and error that this is the best Gluten Free Flour mix for all my cake making and usually produces a good result! Better than the ready made mixes from the shops. |
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| Organic Eggs |
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| Black Treacle? I hear you cry!! Yes it is in Mary's recipe and since I've started doing this cake, several years now, I use it in all the Fruit Cakes I make, it does make a real difference! Gotta be said the lady knows what she is doing!!! |
Time to start, Mary Berry suggests putting all the wet ingredients in at once and mixing it, but I tend to use the creaming method adding the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of the flour mix, it seems to work best for me!
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| Looks good and tastes good, obviously it is raw eggs so don't eat it if you're pregnant, I'm not😱😲! Or if you are immunosuppressed, I'm not!!! Also don't let Margie near it as there won't be enough left for Christmas😂 |
Add the fruit, at this point you will start to worry there is to much fruit!! Don't Panic!! It will amalgamate although saying that my food-mixer starts to struggle !!
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| Fully Mixed |
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| In the tin, make sure you get it right in the corners, if you know what I mean!!😂 |
Cook for 4 and a bit hours at 120 Fan !
And Voila!!
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| Looks Good and smells fantastic! Cool in the tin, poke some holes and feed with Brandy!! Wrap it up, stick in sideboard, take out every 3 weeks and put more Brandy in!! |
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| Obviously when you make a delicious Christmas Cake that smells so good, it's only wise to make another one (loaf tin) to eat now, slightly different recipe, lot less Brandy!! Also another, one sameish recipe as the original (Round Tin) for one of the offspring!!! |
Three weeks before Christmas take the cake out for the final time apply more Brandy cover in homemade Marzipan and a week before Christmas cover in Royal Icing, though I'm not allowed to do writing anymore after the last incident😂!!!
I will do another post, with the homemade Marzipan and Royal Icing both of which are deceptively easy to do!!!
This is a great tasting cake and well worth the effort, give it ago if you are able!!
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