Baking a Christmas cake is part of my seasonal preparations at this time of year. I actually baked it a couple of weeks ago, but I've only just got round to posting about it. The first stage is washing and preparing the fruit, with the addition of brandy to allow it to soak overnight.
After preparing the cake tin, I mix the butter, sugar and spices in a large bowl, before beating in the eggs. I then fold in the flour and finally add the fruit mixture, stirring well to combine. The cake mixture is then placed into the prepared tin.
As cooking is long and slow, the cake needs lots of protection, for which I use newspaper tied in place with string. The cake is then ready for the oven.
I kept a close eye on this cake as I was baking it in an unfamiliar oven. I haven't baked a fruit cake in it before and I was concerned about overcooking, as the oven tends to cook a lot faster than recipes suggest (I suspect that the temperature is inaccurate).
The result of my efforts. The cake will be fed with brandy on a weekly basis over the coming weeks, so that it is moist and mature by Christmas. It will then be ready for icing.
I always have to cook anything ten degrees less than the recipe says in my oven otherwide things burn. The cake looks lovely, I always enjoy the spooning on of brandy every week before icing:)
ReplyDeleteRosie - I am so glad that I kept a close eye on this cake, as it turned out perfectly. Still feeding it weekly and looking forward to tasting it at Christmas. Marie x
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