Cranberry and Citrus Christmas Cake Recipe

Yes, I went there. I said the "C" word and I am not taking it back!

Now is the time to make your Christmas cake if you haven't done it already, and for those of you who haven't, this one is for you.

This is a recipe of my own design and it is meant to fit in a 23cm round tin, obviously you can edit the measurements depending on your preferences.

To me, oranges and citrus fruits are very festive in flavour while the colour of cranberries, red if you didn't know, is as well. Thus they seemed to be the perfect combination.

Ingredients:

500g Raisins
400g Sultanas
125g Cranberries
110g Glace Cherries
120g Mixed Peel
120ml Brandy (you can use sherry if you prefer)
225g Butter
195g Brown Sugar
Zest of 2 oranges
4 eggs
2 tbsps Orange Marmalade
295g Plain Flour
55g Ground Almonds
1 tsp Almond Essence
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Mixed Spice
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Method:

1. Put all your dried fruit into a bowl, pour the brandy over the top, cover and leave to soak overnight.

2. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees / gas mark

3. And line your tin. Now this is more complicated than it sounds... Wrap brown paper around the outside of the tin so it stands above the top of the tin by 10cm, secure with string wrapped around it. Then line the tin as normal with butter and baking paper.

4.Cream the butter and sugar together.

5.Beat in the orange zest

6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one, and then the marmalade.

7. the dry ingredients together and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the dried fruit until all is combined.

8. Add the almond essence and mix thoroughly.

9. Put the cake mix into the cake tin and bake for about 3/3.5 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. If your oven is quite savage, like mine, I would advise making a hat for your cake out of tin foil to prevent the top from burning.

10. When the cake is finished wrap in foil and put into a tin immediately to cool so that the steam is trapped and keeps the cake moist on the top.

11. Then re-wrap in tinfoil, (don't cover the top this time) and return to the tin.

12. You will need to "feed" your cake with brandy every week in order to preserve the cake and add extra flavour.

I hope that was helpful and you are now all going to go and bake your own Christmas cakes rather than buying one. I will do a post on icing it just before Christmas day. 

And with that, good luck!