Yes, I know, it’s happened to me too may a times.
You meant to make a Christmas Cake in early October, feed it weekly with brandy or rum, let it mature, bake it on or before the big day– and guess what, you didn’t! All is not lost though. There is a very simple homemade version for those who didn’t get time to do all the chores or are fearful of making one for the first time, and it’s also extremely good. It’s a no failure recipe and makes a yummy rum-fruit xmas came.
Here’s the full recipe with the video description.
Ingredients
To Soak :
- ½ cup rum
- 1 cup dry fruits and nuts (combination of raisin, dark raisin, seedless dates, pitted prunes, glazed cherries, tutti frutti, almonds, cashewnuts and walnut)
- 1 tbsp Orange zest
- Juice of two oranges
For Cake Batter :
- 1 cup maida (all-purpose flour)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 3 large eggs, at room temp
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. cinnamon powder
- ¼ cup olive oil / vegetable oil / canola oil (or) 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp
- ½ tsp. nutmeg powder
Method:
Chop up the dates, prunes, almonds, walnuts into smaller pieces, add raisins, tutty fruity and mixed peel. Add wine and stir. lace into a large saucepan with the mixed spice, cocoa, oil, and sugar. Grate in the orange zest and then squeeze in the juice. Heat to a gentle simmer and bubble for 10 minutes or so, then take off of the heat and leave to cool for another 10 minutes.
Grab and butter a deep 8″ round cake tin. Cut out 3 circles of baking paper to fit neatly inside the base. Stick one to the bottom of the tin, holding the other two back for now.
Cut a long length of baking paper and fold it in half to double over. Fold up the bottom folded edge to create a ‘seam’ about 2cm deep and crease well at the fold. Cut incisions along the seam about 1cm into the fold. Run the sheet of baking paper around the inside of the cake tins shown on the video.
Cut another long strip of baking paper, fold it over to double up and wrap this around the outside of the tin with something that is safe in the oven. (a string or a pin) This seems like a lot of effort, but it protects the cake from the metal tin whilst it’s in the oven for 2 hrs!
Crack the eggs into the slightly cooled mixture and beat together with the flour until well combined.
Transfer to your prepared tin and bake at 140°C for 1 hour. Add the final circle of baking paper on top of the cake after an hour in the oven, then continue baking for another hour.
Remove from the oven, cover with a damp tea towel as it cools. Remove from the tin, dust in icing sugar and Yipee! Your last minute Xmas Cake is ready!
Enjoy with friends & family.
You can check some important ingredients here:
