Maggie Beer's Christmas Cake
- Ready In:
- 4hrs
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Yields:
-
1 large cake
ingredients
- 500 g sultanas
- 300 g currants
- 175 g seedless raisins
- 1⁄4 cup good-quality bitter marmalade
- 150 g mixed peel
- 2 grated oranges, zest of
- 120 ml brandy
- 300 g unbleached plain flour
- 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 220 g softened unsalted butter
- 200 g soft light brown sugar
- 4 large free-range eggs
- 100 g blanched almonds
directions
- Mix the dried fruit and orange zest together in a glass or china bowl.
- Pour the brandy over and mix again.
- Cover the bowl and leave for at least 24 hours, turning mixture occasionally.
- Preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
- Grease and line a 24cm round cake tin with several layers of paper.
- Paper should extend 10cm above the rim of the tin.
- Sift flour, spices and salt.
- Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.
- Beat eggs in a separate bowl then mix very gradually into the creamed mixture.
- Gently fold in the spiced flour, then fold in the dried fruit mixture.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Decorate the top with blanched almonds.
- Bake for about 3 hours.
- A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean when the cake is cooked.
- A baking dish full of water placed on the oven shelf below the cake during cooking will help keep the cake moist.
- Cool the cake in the tin for 30 minutes before transfering to a wire rack.
- To store, wrap the cake in several layers of greaseproof paper, then wrap in foil and store in an air-tight tin.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Tess8728
Australia
I live in South West Victoria (Australia)on a small farm where my husband runs a few beef cows as a hobby. (We both have day jobs as well!) Funny thing is - I don't eat beef. I hate it when our vealers go off to market. Our time for entertaining is limited, but I enjoy trying out new recipes and testing them on family and friends.