No Fruit Christmas Cake

 



Ingredients

 

225g Salted Butter

4 Large Eggs

200g Light Muscovado Sugar

1 tbsp Treacle

330g Plain Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

100ml Milk

Zest of 1 Orange

Pre-heat the oven to 175oC and grease your tin, I like a ring tin for this cake.

 

Melt the butter and set aside to cool. Whisk the eggs, sugar and treacle together in a big bowl. In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together.

 

Stir the flour mix and the milk alternatively into the sugar and eggs, a little at a time folding gently to keep the air in. Once combined add the orange zest mix it together and add the butter gently. Pour into your tin and bake for 45-55 minutes (depending on your oven) until the cake is springy to touch and you can insert and skewer and pull it out clean.

 

Let the cake cool and then you can decorate with a dusting of icing sugar or a mix of orange juice and icing sugar which can be drizzled over the cake. Alternatively since this cake doesn't have any booze in it like a traditional Christmas cake you could use Cointreau and icing sugar and drizzle that instead.

 

Christmas Cake



Ingredients

 

500g Seedless Raisins

200g Currants

100g Chopped Glace Cherries

175g Mixed Peel

175g Chopped Almonds

125g Apricot Jam

6tbsp Dark Rum

1 1/2tbsp Soft Brown Sugar

One week before making the cake put all of the above ingredients into a bowl and cover, coming back to give it a stir every other day.

 

Oil and line a 9 inch round tin with two layers of baking parchment and wrap the outside of the tin with two layers of brown paper.

 

Pre heat oven to 150oC

 

Then you will need.

 

175g Butter

250g Soft Brown Sugar

4 Large Eggs

210g Plain Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

3/4 tsp Mixed Spice

3/4 tsp Nutmeg

Cream the butter and sugar together then add a little beaten egg gradually. Now add the fruit mix and give it a good stir. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, mixed spice and nutmeg all into the mix and give it another stir until all combined. Pour into the tin and bake for 3 1/2 hours. After 2 hours cover the top with a circle of grease proof paper.

 

When you remove the cake from the oven pour over another two tablespoons of rum. Wrap up and let it mature for a month or two, feeding it with a tablespoon of rum now and again. Then decorate just before Christmas.