Emer makes Christmas Cake with Junior 5- St Joseph's Special School, Galway, Ireland

 

Christmas Cake is usually made a few months out to allow the cake to mature and the flavour intensify.

Ingredients:

• 375g Dried Fruit Mix

• 280g Plain Flour

• 100g Ground Almonds

• 1 tsb Mixed Spice

• 1 tsp Cinnamon

• 150ml of Brandy + extra for maturing

• Zest of 2 Lemons

• 100g Nibbed Almonds

• 225g Butter or Margarine

• 225g Soft Dark Brown Sugar

• 5 Large Eggs

 How to Make Christmas Cake

1. Soak the fruit mix in brandy overnight.

2. Stir the nibbed almonds into the mix.

3. Mix the flour, ground almonds, mixed spice, cinnamon and lemon zest together. Add to the fruit mix and stir.

4. Cream the butter and sugar togehter until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs.

5. Preheat your oven to 150°C / Gas Mark 2.

6. Add the butter / sugar /eggs into the fruit mix and then stir until fully combined. Turn into a lined 9" cake tin and flatten the top. If using a fan oven, tent the cake with foil. Bake for 2 1/2 - 3 hours or until a skewer comes out clean.

7. Cool in the tin overnight.

8. To store the cake, wrap it in greaseproof paper and then in tin foil and place back into the tin.

9. Every fortnight, spoon 2-3 tsp of brandy over the cake to mature it until a week or so out from Christmas, when you will cover with almond paste and royal icing.