I Heart Cooking

Well before cooking, preferably the day before or the week before, collect all the dried fruit and nuts in a bowl. Chop them coarsely  then add the brandy, orange zest and juice. Leave as long as possible for the fruit to soak up the brandy. The more brandy you get to soak into the fruit, the better you cake will be.

Just before you start on the cake you need to prepare your cake tin. This should be double lined and greased with parchment or grease proof paper. I can’t stress enough – double lined. The sides of the paper should extend about an inch above the height of the tin itself. Also you should wrap a page or two of newspaper around the outside of the tin and on the bottom of the tin. Use some string to hold it in place. This will all stop the cake sides from burning when cooking. Put your oven on to preheat at 150C.

The actual cake mix needs to be put together in just the right order. If you have an electric hand mixer, this will be of great assistance. Leave the butter out to come to room temperature then mix it with the sugar. Beat the mix roughly so that the sugar and butter blend into a cream. Now half the eggs. Mix, and then add the other half the eggs. A single spoonful of flour might help the mix come together. The eggs, sugar and butter should be well mixed. Carefully fold the fruit mix into the cake. Don’t over stir or you will flatten the cake. Once the fruit is all coated, add a few spoons of flour. Fold in the four one spoon at a time till the mix becomes thick. Spoon the cake mix into the prepared tin and smooth flat.

Cook in your oven at 150C for 2 or 3 hours. Use a cocktail stick, poked into the centre of the cake, to test if is cooked all the way through. If the top starts to burn, reduce the temperature by 10C and cover the top of the cake with some parchment paper. When finished, allow the cake to cool inside the tin before turning out.

Christmas cake is traditionally dressed with marzipan and royal icing. You could make your own (I do so) but most supermarkets stock some ready made to roll and eat. Brush the outside of the cake with jam to make it sticky, then roll out the marzipan and place it over the cake. Trim of any extra pieces and Leave overnight to set. The next day roll out the royal icing and place over the top of the marzipan. Keep your cake wrapped in cling film or tinfoil, inside a large plastic tub. In this condition, the cake can last several weeks if not months.