I finally got around to making my Christmas cake last weekend and even though all the ingredients were quite expensive, I think it is well worth making your own. This recipe was my grandmother’s. I have given it to you before but, for those who missed out, here it is again.
The hardest part is actually preparing the baking tin! The cake weighs just over two kilograms once baked and before you marzipan and ice it. You still have time to make it, so get baking!
Ingredients
170g plain flour and 170g self-raising flour
230g butter (not margarine)
230g brown sugar
1kg mixed fruit
2 tablespoons of syrup
100g cherries
75g ground almonds (optional)
100g flaked almonds
1 teaspoon mixed spice and 1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
5 eggs
4 teaspoons brandy
Method
Cream the butter and sugar. Add half of the flour and the eggs and cream together.
Add the mixed fruit to the rest of the flour and coat it. Then add to rest of mixture.
Add brandy until a ‘dropping’ consistency is reached. (I added another two teaspoons, making it six altogether).
Grease cake tin (25cm across and at least 8 to 10cm deep) and line with double greaseproof paper.I use a square tin because the cake is much easier to cut.
Wrap double brown paper around the outside of the tin and tie with string. Spoon in cake mixture and make a well in the centre.
Bake for about three and a half hours at 140°C. Cool then wrap in greaseproof paper and tinfoil.
Pour brandy over the cake every week (I prick the top of the cake with a fork and just dribble the brandy over).
Two weeks before Christmas, cover the cake in marzipan and ice with royal icing. Decorate or tie a ribbon around it. Enjoy!
On the move
In keeping with the topic of baking, I must tell you that Mondeor Homebake Supplies situated at Mondeor Village, Columbine Avenue in Mondeor, is moving shop to where the Spar shop was, namely opposite the Mondeor Police Station on 253 Frandaph Drive, corner of Royal Park Drive.
When I chatted to the owner, Charlmaine Pereira, she said she began Mondeor Homebake Supplies 18 years ago. They moved from the old Spar to where Mondeor Outfitters is now and then across to Mondeor Village. “You could say, I’m moving back to my roots,” she laughed.
The move will take place on October 27 when the new shop will open at 8.30am. It will be launched over the weekend with lots of grand opening specials and all your cake and decorating needs.
“We are also having a clearance sale at our shop in Mondeor Village from October 23 to October 29 with some great discounted prices. There will be a new coffee shop, Cinnamon, from which they will serve breakfasts, light lunches and cakes.”
Mondeor Homebake Supplies will be keeping the same phone number: 011 433 3880. Opening hours will be Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm, Saturdays 8am to 1pm and on Sundays until the end of the year from 9am to 1pm.
That’s it for this week. Shop till you drop!
Julie
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