My one and only tip is that before you embark on baking 2 cakes at the same time i.e. doubling up on the recipe, please check if there is any hand folding of flour plus over 1 kg of dried fruits involved. The total of 2 hours laboring in the dining room resulted in lower back pain and pulled hamstrings in both my legs. Pregnant women should NOT stand for a prolonged period of time.
Few key pointers:-
1. Should've reduced more of the sugar. Could've easily cut off by 50g for each cake.
2. When baking more than one cake on the shelve, the cake furthest in the oven, is browner than the rest. It didn't burn though.
3. I substituted currants with sultanas. I don't like currants.
4. You could be much more generous with the brandy used to season the fruits. 3 tbs for that amount of fruits is really negligible.
5. Grating 2 lemon zest and 2 orange zest is really not as easy as it seems. Start early on that.
6. I cannot ice the cake until few days before Xmas or else the marzipan will dry out. For picture from last year's iced Xmas cake, please click
2008 Xmas.
7. Lowest shelf!!! And 4 1/2 hours is a tad too long. Maybe 4 hours is ok, and check before then. 4 1/2hrs resulted in crusty top.
(Grated orange and lemon zest)
THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CAKE
Method
You need to begin this cake the night before you want to bake it. All you do is weigh out the dried fruit and mixed peel, place it in a mixing bowl and mix in the brandy as evenly and thoroughly as possible. Cover the bowl with a clean tea cloth and leave the fruit aside to absorb the brandy for 12 hours.
Next day pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1, 275°F (140°C). Then measure out all the rest of the ingredients, ticking them off to make quite sure they're all there. The treacle will be easier to measure if you remove the lid and place the tin in a small pan of barely simmering water. Now begin the cake by sifting the flour, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl, lifting the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing. Next, in a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until it's light, pale and fluffy. Now beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add them to the creamed mixture a tablespoonful at a time; keep the whisk running until all the egg is incorporated. If you add the eggs slowly by degrees like this the mixture won't curdle. If it does, don't worry, any cake full of such beautiful things can't fail to taste good!
When all the egg has been added, fold in the flour and spices, using gentle, folding movements and not beating at all (this is to keep all that precious air in). Now fold in the fruit, peel, chopped nuts and treacle and finally the grated lemon and orange zests. Next, using a large kitchen spoon, transfer the cake mixture into the prepared tin, spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon and, if you don't intend to ice the cake, lightly drop the whole blanched almonds in circles or squares all over the surface. Finally cover the top of the cake with a double square of silicone paper with a 50p-size hole in the centre (this gives extra protection during the long slow cooking).
Bake the cake on the lowest shelf of the oven for 4½-4¾ hours. Sometimes it can take up to ½-¾ hour longer than this, but in any case don't look till at least 4 hours have passed. Cool the cake for 30 minutes in the tin, then remove it to a wire rack to finish cooling. When it's cold 'feed' it – make small holes in the top and base of the cake with a cocktail stick or small skewer, then spoon over a few teaspoons of brandy, wrap it in double silicone paper secured with an elastic band and either wrap again in foil or store in an airtight container. You can now feed it at odd intervals until you need to ice or eat it.
