Rather than my usual 8" cake, I went for two 6" cakes instead. I did however stick to Delia Smith's Classic Christmas cake as it's served me so well over the last few years.
I'm not going to post the full recipes as you can visit Delia's page by clicking the link above. I will however give a quick run-down of how easy it is to make.
First you want to measure out your fruit the night before and mix with your alcohol of choice! I Chose a lovely cherry liqueur as it needed using up, brandy and other such drinks with a high alcohol content work well.Give the fruit a good stir whenever possible throughout the evening and next morning to make sure its being soaked nicely.
Next is the Golden Rule of Baking; measure out and prepare your ingredients. There is nothing worse than getting half way through a recipe and having to run out to get something you've missed especially at a crucial time in the method!
Now is also the time to line your tins with a double layer or baking paper as you will be cooking the cake for a long time!
Once smooth, mix in all the lovely fruit and the lemon and orange zest before popping into your pre-prepared tins and baking.
How long do I bake my cake for?Very good question! If you stick to Delia's recipe then its a minimum of 4 hours but could be longer.
If you are using a different sized tin then the times will vary. Delia also shows how to scale up and down the recipe and the baking times.
Once a skewer comes out clean, cool in the tin for 30 minutes then remove and once fully cool I wrap them in baking paper then tin foil. Feed on a weekly basis until ready to cover: to feel poke a skewer through the base of the cake evenly across the surface then drizzle on a couple of tablespoons of brandy or other alcohol, this keeps the cake moist and preserved as well as giving flavour.
You can make the cake a month in advance or longer if you wish, I would recommend at least 2 weeks to give feeding time!
Next week I will be putting marzipan on the cakes!
No comments:
Post a Comment