A Slice of Christmas Cheer

I am about to dip my fingers into the blogging world for a second time after my first blog which focused on building our new home draws to a close.

https://debdjd.wordpress.com

I have been persuaded to start a food blog by my family. I thought of lots of creative food blog names and sent the word out to the crew to put their thinking caps on too. They all suggested Deb’s Kitchen as this is how they refer to our place when they come over for a meal and so, it might not be a very creative blog name but it is probably a very appropriate one.

I am sure you are all like me and you can hardly believe that it is that special time of year again. It happens to be my favourite time of year and I know some of you will think I am mad but I just love all the food, the parties, the decorations and all the razzmatazz that goes with this time of year.

It is probably also appropriate that I start my first post with a Christmas recipe. The beginning of December is when I make my Christmas Cake (and I normally make another one within a few days as this one gets eaten very quickly!) I have used this recipe for the last 15 years – like all my recipes it has been tweaked just a little bit. I like things pretty simple and I always try and do recipes that are not too precise and that allow  you to  play around and adapt to suit your taste.

You still have plenty of time to get that cake baked and you will enjoy  the beautiful aroma of all that alcohol infused fruit cooking.

 

Christmas Cake

Makes 1 cake

1 kg mixed fruit

1 x 100g packet of glace cherries

1/2 cup mixed peel

1/2 – 3/4 cup brandy or similar alcohol (I used Drambuie this year)

250 g butter at room tempreture

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

5 eggs

1 tablespoon marmalade

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup chopped almonds or brazil nuts

Additional blanched almonds to decorate (optional)

 

• Place the dried fruit, mixed peel,cherries and alcohol in a large bowl. Mix well, cover and leave to marinade at least 12 hours. I often leave it for 2 days.
• Prepare a 20cm square cake tin by lining the sides and base with greaseproof paper. Leave a small overhang of about 2 cm.
• Cream the sugar and butter together for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well.
• Add the vanilla essence, marmalade and nuts – mix in well.
• Fold in half the flour and half the fruit mixture into the creamed mixture. Fold in the remaining fruit and flour.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the top.
• Decorate with almonds if you would like.
• Bake in a very slow oven (130 C) for 2 1/2 hrs

Happy Christmas and Happy cooking 🙂

PS I am cooking my second Christmas cake as I write this blog