The Christmas Cake

My Mother used to make her own Christmas cakes; usually two, one with icing and marzipan and one that was decorated with nuts and cherries. The former was always my favorite. This year I decided to make my own cake using the tried and trusted family recipe. I typed it out below if anyone wants to try it out; I worked from a photocopy of my Mum's recipe notebook.

I started blending the butter and brown sugar by hand, but it was too much like hard work, so I broke out the electric mixer...

Added eggs, flour, dried fruit etc.

Greased my tin. It is not necessary to use butter wrappers, but it is traditional in my family.

Bake in the center of your oven for three (3) hours at 300 F/150 C/GM #2.

Allow to cool to room temperature before turning out the cake:

It is traditional to store the cake for several weeks in an appropriate tin before finishing:

My cake was left in the cabinet for about three (3) weeks after it was baked. The next step is to apply the marzipan. My Grandmother used to make her own marzipan; mine came premade. It is necessary to knead the marzipan for a minute or so and then roll it out; icing/powdered sugar is useful here to prevent the marzipan from sticking to the cutting board.

I took half a jar of apricot jam, added a tablespoon of water and heated the mixture on the stove until it boiled. The boiling step prevents the jam and sugar from fermenting. The residue was strained with a fine sieve:

The apricot slurry is then brushed over the cake - without this step the marzipan will not stick to the cake. 

After applying the marzipan the cake is returned to storage.

A few days later the marzipan was hardened and ready for icing, so I transferred the cake to a cutting board. If I do this again, I will buy a proper cake stand with a cover and use that.

The icing is made by gradually adding four (4) cups of powdered sugar to three (3) whipped egg whites. Sieving the powdered sugar before mixing gets rid of those tiny annoying lumps. 

This gives icing which is easy to apply and sets very hard. Any excess can be applied to cookies or even digestive biscuits if you have some on hand.

I was planning to add decorations and some additional piped embellishments to the icing, but unfortunately, I ran out of time before Christmas, so the cake was served somewhat unfinished, on a cutting board:

It came out OK. The cake was overbaked and dry, but the other bits tasted great!

For the cake:

8 oz butter
8 oz brown sugar
9 oz all purpose/plain flour
5x eggs
8 oz currants
8 oz sultanas/golden raisins
2 oz glacé cherries
2 oz candied citrus peel
2 oz ground almonds
½ tspn gravy browning
pinch of salt
½ tspn nutmeg

Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour and other ingredients. Bake at 150 C/ 300 F or GM #2 for three (3) hours. Store for at least twenty-eight (28) days prior to consumption. During this period the cake may be finished with marzipan and icing/frosting as above or may be served as is with cheddar cheese.

For the marzipan:

2x 7 oz blocks of marzipan
½ jar apricot jam

For the icing:

4x cups of powdered/icing sugar
3x egg whites