Thread: Cliff’s Christmas Cake.

Cliff’s Christmas Cake.
(Plan to start in October)

Fruit: prepared 4 to 7 days in advance.
375 g sultanas
375 g raisins
250 g mixed peel
125 g glacé cherries
700 ml bundy rum

Wash raisins and sultanas separately and dry thoroughly.
Chop raisins and cherries and put in a glass bowl with sultanas and mixed peel.
Add rum until fruit is just covered.
Cover the bowl and stand for 4 to 7 days stirring at least once a day.
Bowl should be kept in the fridge in hot weather.

Cake Mixture: prepared in the morning of the day of cooking.
250 g butter
1¼ cups brown sugar
grated rind of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons golden syrup
3 tablespoons marmalade
5 eggs
2½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup chopped blanched almonds

Drain the fruit and save the liquid.
Beat butter and brown sugar with lemon rind until light and creamy.
Add golden syrup and marmalade and beat well.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
Add 1 tablespoon flour with last egg.
Sift together flour, spices and salt and stir into creamed mixture alternately with fruit and chopped almonds.
Preheat oven to 150°C while preparing tin.
I use a 23 cm (9 inch) square by 9 cm (3½ inch) high tin with round corners.
Grease the tin and line it with 2 thickness’ of greased grease-proof paper.
Stir the mixture and spoon it into the tin.
Now wrap the whole tin in 3 thickness’ of strong alfoil leaving about 5 cm (2 inches) of room above the tin.
The idea is to create a miniature oven around the tin to stop the cake from drying out and to help it to cook more evenly.
Now bake it for at least 4 hours before opening the foil to check it. If the cake is almost cooked but still looks a bit wet and shiny in the middle you can leave the foil open until it is finished.
If it is not nearly cooked, cover it again.
This is a big and very moist cake and can take 5 hours or more to cook.
When done, remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle the saved fruit liquid over the cake.
When the liquid has soaked in, remove the cake from the tin, leaving the paper on it.
Wrap it in a tea towel to cool.
When cool, sprinkle it with more rum and wrap it in 3 thickness’ of foil and a towel and store it in a cool dry place that is safe from vermin.
Open it and sprinkle with more rum once a week.
The cake is best after about 6 to 8 weeks and will last for several months.