This may seem a Scrooge-esque way to open my first festive post in two years, but I will defy this by saying that this recipe for dense, fruity Christmas cake will banish any hostility you have for the thing and what's more, is simply exquisite in its rich taste and rich symbolism. The problem with a real, real traditional English Christmas cake is that it has so much preparation; creaming, mixing, steeping, and standing, it sets itself up for disappointment, and can't help but gather dust when January comes. Not that this version is much less in terms of processes and does too need to be made at least a month or pushing it at three weeks like this year, ahead. Although it is gratifyingly simple to prepare, and the ingredients list alone will tell you that this darling is a big deal. Three different boozes (four if you count the bitters) may seem extravagant, but they're all bottles that will play a significant role in a Christmas cooking and cocktail repertoire so consider this cake a support. Anyway, isn't excess part of the spirit? Just avoid leaving the cake near a tealight during the feeding process. And if you're struggling somehow to find a use for these liqueurs, then just make a creole shot- simply pour port, cherry brandy and dark rum in equal measures into a shot glass, and knock back. Take it from me it will help you through the season.
The recipe itself is adapted from Delia Smith and is one of her most popular recipes around, so naturally I've offered my own suggestions here. The heritage behind it is almost as rich as the taste- it comes from the wife of a sugar plantation owner in Barbados; how Delia came across her must be a cracking story. The cake is essentially the Jamaican classic black fruit cake, and is just as dense and dark as the name suggests. In terms of Christmas symbolism it lends itself beautifully, whether you decorate with a white snowy blanket of fondant icing or bejewel it with fruit and nuts, it becomes a central beacon of light and hope in a Christmas kitchen, and all the little fruits imbued in the cake promise a fruitful and joyful year to come.
Now, before we get bogged down with too much fluffy cheer, I have to admit if you make this in one big tin, unless you have a huge family that all adore fruit cake coming over you may struggle to chow it all down before new year- true, the cake can keep for a month beyond Christmas, but it may be riddled with bad spirits by then and I would worry about it gathering dust. To rectify this, do as I do and make one small, 18-20cm diameter cake and 12 cupcakes. You can use these cupcakes as pick-me-ups through the season if you need a sweet bite to get away from it for a moment or as edible gifts, beribboned and wrapped for a hamper. If you wanted you could do 24 cupcakes, or do a very small whole cake and 18 cupcakes. There are lots of options here. I'll go over decorations later, but for now give yourself a week for the fruit's pre-soaking. Over to you:
For the pre-soaking:
450g sultanas
225g currants
125g prunes, chopped
125g whole mixed peel, chopped
100g chopped glace cherries (why not go camp and get some green ones as well as Rudolph-nose red)
50g flaked almonds(plus more for the cupcake's topping), and I like to chop blanched ones myself as they keep their crunch better
50g coarsely chopped hazelnuts
4 tbsp rum (plus extra for feeding)
4 tbsp cherry brandy
4 tbsp port
1 1/2 tsp Angostura bitters
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp black treacle
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of 2 oranges
Pile all of these ingredients into a large saucepan. It helps to write all of these in a list and tick them off as you go. Just like at the table on the big day, no one wants to be left out. Give it a really good stir and bring it up to simmering point on the hob, then turn the heat down to as low as possible and allow it to simmer with the lid off for 15 minutes, stirring to make sure nothing sticks. Remove from the heat, clamp on a lid and let this mixture cool completely before transferring the dense sticky mess into a Tupperware container or jar (you can't really leave it in the saucepan if you were wondering) and leaving it for around 7 days in the fridge.
For the cake:
250g self-raising flour
250g soft unsalted butter
250g demarara sugar
5 large eggs
Take the fruits out of the fridge to come to room temperature for a while. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees Celsius.
Preparing the tin is the hardest part of this whole exercise, so get ready with a pair of sharp scissors and a focused head. Brush oil all over the inside of an 18-20cm deep cake tin, preferably with a loose base but this is perfectly easy without. Cut two strips of greaseproof or parchment paper cut a little bit taller than the height of the tin. Fold a little rim about an inch tall up on these strips and take your scissors and cut into this fold, as if making a frill. Using the sticky oil, line the tin with the two strips having the frills line the bottom. Draw around the base of the tin and cut around to make a circle. Place the circle over the frilly hem on the bottom of the tin. Fold another bit of greaseproof that fits on top of the pieces of parchment that come above the side of the tin. Or, if you make fruitcakes and use the 18cm deep tin a lot, you can cut reusable baking parchment to size, one strip to go around the cake and come up higher than the sides, and one 18cm circle to go in the base. These can just live in the tin so you needn't do any oiling, cutting or whatever before you start- this erodes a big, daunting step.
Line a 12 muffin tin with foil cupcake cases (the paper ones don't insulate the cakes enough, unfortunately). If you have a double oven, it's best to bake the cupcakes in one and the cake in the other so you don't disturb the large cake as it cooks, but it's not the end of the world. My second oven doesn't accommodate the cupcakes, so I can say first-hand that it isn't an issue to cook both at once.
Crack the eggs into a large bowl and follow with the flour, sugar and butter and beat them all together with an electric mixer or a wooden spoon if you're feeling particularly athletic until completely smooth and light. Gradually fold in the fruits- when the mixture gets very tough, I use my hands to help incorporate the fruit.
Use two spoons to fill the cupcake cases, aim for about 1 heaped tablespoon of mixture per cupcake case and then use the rest of the mixture to fill the lined tin. Press 5 flaked almonds in a star like pattern on the surface of each cupcake. Cover the cupcake tin loosely with foil to insulate them.
Baking these cakes can be complicated. They take a long time for sure but they can vary greatly- I find the cupcakes take around 1 1/4 hours and the large cake around 2 1/2 hours but ovens can be so different. Either way the cakes should spring back with a light finger touch in the centre when cooked. After the cake's first hour, be sure to pop the folded bit of parchment on top.
When the big cake is done immediately whip off its parchment lid and wrap foil all around it, not worrying about crushing the bits of overgrowing paper, to trap steam and keep the top from drying as it cools. If you're using reusable parchment you don't want to crush and crease it so press foil right onto the surface of the cake within the silicon parchment crown.
When the cakes have completely cooled, take the cupcakes out of the tin and pop them, of course still in their case, into a storage tin. Unwrap the large cake and wrap it in parchment paper and then a layer of foil tightly. I just scrunch a piece of paper around the cake- I think we've done enough folding and snipping in one recipe, don't you? To feed the cake and cupcakes, make a few holes in the surface with a fine skewer or stick of uncooked spaghetti and spoon rum into them. I use about a teaspoon per cupcake. You can do this before you pack the cakes in their storage container and once every week or whenever you want until you decorate it for Christmas.
To decorate:
A jar of apricot jam
200g marzipan
250g fondant icing
Icing sugar to dust
or
Apricot jam
Assorted nuts, dried fruit, and glace fruit
My lot of cakes for this year are actually under a bed waiting for the icing, but these are the instructions I'll come to later.
To do the traditional icing, which I use for the big cake, use icing sugar like flour when you're making pastry and roll the marzipan then use the cake tin like a large cutter to make a circle the shape of the rum-soaked surface of the cake. Warm the apricot jam in a small saucepan and brush it all over the top of the cake. Place the marzipan over the top. Roll out the icing in the same way, using the cake tin as a cutter again, and then top this over the marzipan, brushing off any excess icing sugar. Use the excess to cut a Christmassy shape, such as a star or angel, and use a little water to stick this to the icing. If you wanted to cover the whole cake with icing, which is useful if you want to keep this cake iced for a long period before cutting and eating, roll the icing out fully, slip your arms underneath the sheet and drop it on top of the marzipan-topped cake and smooth it down with your hands. Cut off the excess before topping with shapes cut with the excess icing. If you wanted to ice the whole thing far before you would plan on cutting it, you need to leave the marzipan on top of the cake without the icing to dry for about a week or the brown oils of the fruit will seep into the icing and stain it. There's no need to do this if you ice the cake the night before you plan on bringing it festively to the family table, though. When decorating with just a round lid of icing you can wrap the sides of the cake with some Christmassy ribbon, as I have below. And I'd never want to forget my little trinkets that I stick to the top of the cake with a dab of water. And it's easiest to stick with water by dabbing a drop with your finger tip and gently rubbing which sort of melts a small area of icing and makes it sticky enough to work as glue.
For the alternative, brush the cake with apricot jam again and simply stick with fruits and nuts, either randomly like a jigsaw or in concentric circles and brush these with apricot jam to look shiny.
For the cupcakes, if I've pressed nuts onto the surface all I do is brush with apricot jam to make them look glossy, but you can play more if you like. Cut individual circles of marzipan and icing and top each one with one star, or play with some paste food dye and make holly berries and leaves. You could also do baby versions of the fruit and nut glaze.
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