Christmas Baking

Share you healthy, easy and delicious Christmas recipes here. Older is better or newer is easier?

Traditional Christmas Cake Recipe
This recipe is for a cake which is wonderful if baked in September or October, as it improves with keeping.

Read on
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How to Make Traditional Christmas Almond Paste
Christmas Cake Recipe - Homemade or Delia?
Note: Requires to be left overnight at stage 3.

Ingredients :
125 g/4 oz raisins
125 g/4 oz glace cherries
125 g/4 oz mixed peel
450 g/1 lb currants
125 g/4 oz sultanas
2 tablespoons brandy, sherry or rum
4 eggs
225 g/8 oz butter
225 g/8 oz soft brown sugar
225 g/8 oz plain white flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
125 g/4 oz ground almonds
Method:
Chop raisins, cherries and mixed peel.
Put these in a bowl with currants and sultanas.
Pour over the brandy, sherry or rum and leave overnight.
Line a 20 cm/8 inch diameter round cake tin or an 18 cm/7 inch square tin with greased, grease-proof paper.
Prepare a cool oven, Gas 2, 300°F, 150°C.
Beat the eggs.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.
Sift flour and mixed spice in a separate bowl.
Add soaked fruit and ground almonds.
Mix well together.
Add spoonfuls of egg then flour mixture to bowl of creamed ingredients.
Mix well at each addition until all is thoroughly mixed.
Put mixture into prepared tin.
To protect the cake from browning on the outside before the middle is cooked, wrap a double thickness of brown paper or newspaper round outside of the tin. It should stand up a good 5 cm/2 inches above the tin. Tie it on with string.
Bake the cake for 3 to 4 hours, until it is firm and the fruit stops ‘singing’ or ‘hissing’.
Remove cake from the tin and place on a cooling wire.
When cold, store in an air-tight tin and let it mature as long as possible (at least 3 months). It will keep for a year.
The whole



Read more at Suite101: Traditional English Christmas Cake Recipe: Recipe for Old Fashioned Christmas Fruit Cake to Make in Advance http://www.suite101.com/content/traditional-english-christmas-cake-recipe-a144729#ixzz16coZrbnu

Sounds delicious wuzfuz, and shows you're a good cook
to have a great fruit cake recipe!

Wuzfuz, are you baking that cake this Christmas? Sounds delicious.

Here is one you all may want to try. Keeps long, so one batch may last all year.

Traditional Christmas Cake

Ingredients
2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons (9 ounces total) butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups each currants, golden raisins, dark raisins
1 1/3 cups soft dried figs, chopped
1 1/4 cups dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup chopped stoned dried prunes
1 3/4 cups chopped dried apricots
3/4 cup blanched almonds, chopped
2/3 cup plus 4 tablespoons brandy
2 teaspoons instant espresso, mixed with 1 tablespoon water Introduction:
This rich cake can be made at the last minute before Christmas--it doesn't need to mature, although it keeps well, too.

Makes 30 servings.
Total time: 4 hours 45 minutes, plus cooling time.

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease a round 9- or 10-inch cake pan, and line bottom and sides with several layers of waxed paper.

Step 2:
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on high, beat the butter and sugar until thick and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together the flour, salt, and spices, then fold into the creamed mixture. Add the fruit, almonds, 2/3 cup brandy, and espresso, folding in well.

Step 3:
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, leveling the surface. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 275°F and bake for 3 1/2 hours longer or until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Step 4:
Remove the pan from the oven, cover with first a kitchen towel and then a thick bath towel so that the cake will cool slowly.

Step 5:
When the cake is cool, prick the top with a skewer and drizzle with the extra brandy. Wrap in waxed paper and store in an airtight container. Keep in a cool place for up to 3 months.

Source: http://www.christmas-joy.com

Thanks islandgirl.

Our traditions and tastes vary a little. This was my mother's recipe.

We are not much on currants,figs,prunes and apricots.

We also add glazed cherries and glazed pineapple chunks.

Of course there is a standing joke about how long Christmas cakes take to get eaten up. I think many men like me, just like a small slice once in awhile.