Christmas cake

[Jodie]

This is my Grandmothers cake and her mothers before her and so on - it has been in the family a long time.

Nan’s Christmas Cake

375g raisins
375g sultanas
225g currants
125g mixed peel
125g glace cherries
60g prunes
60g dates
3 tablespoons Brandy or Rum
3 tablespoons Medium dry sherry
(Chop larger fruits and combine, sprinkle the fruits with the alcohol and leave to soak, at least overnight – but I soak for a couple of weeks)

250g butter
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 tablespoon marmalade jam
5 eggs
2 ½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
60g chopped almonds (I use blanched)
1 teaspoon each vanilla, almond and lemon essences

Beat the butter and the brown sugar with the lemon rind until light and creamy. Add golden syrup and marmalade.
Add eggs one at a time and beat well between additions. Mixture may appear curdled but don’t worry. Add the essences.
Sift together flour and spices. Sift into the batter with the dried fruit mixture.
Grease and line (with 4 layers of paper) an 8” cake pan. Put a layer of paper over the top of the cake so it does not burn.
Bake in a slow oven, 150C for 2 hours. Remove top paper and lower the heat to 140C for 1 to 1 ½ hours more.
Test with a skewer – if sticky cook a little longer.
When it is ready, take it out of the oven and sprinkle another couple of tablespoons of brandy over the hot cake.
Wrap in a clean tea towel and several thicknesses of newspaper and leave it in the tin.
Next day, remove from tin, wrap in cling film and store in the cleaned tin until ready to use.
I usually make this cake in November for Christmas day.

[Jodie]

This is our family Christmas pudding - it is really nice served with custard or ice cream (hot or cold)

Nan’s Christmas Pudding

250g raisins
250g sultanas
250g currants
60g mixed peel
3 tablespoons Brandy or Rum
(Chop larger fruits and combine, sprinkle the fruits with the alcohol and leave to soak, at least overnight – but I soak for a couple of weeks)

250g butter
250g brown sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon and 1 orange
4 eggs – lightly beaten
60g chopped almonds (I use blanched)
1 cup plain flour
½ teaspoon each salt, mixed spice, nutmeg, ground ginger, cinnamon and bicarb soda.
125g fresh breadcrumbs

Beat the butter and the brown sugar with the fruit rinds until light and creamy.
Add eggs a little at a time, mixture may curdle but don’t worry.
Sift flour and spices with bicarb soda
Stir in fruit, blanched almonds, bread crumbs and flour/spice mixture. Do this a little of each at a time until it is all mixed in.
You can use a pudding basin or cloth square if you like but I used large oven bags (slice open 2 oven bags down one side and across the bottom, put one on top of the other) sprinkle with a little flour and put mixture in the centre of the bags, then bring up the sides and tie off tightly (try to remove as much air as possible) with butchers string. I generally use a third oven bag and put the pudding (already tied up) into this to make sure no water gets into it.

Boil water in a large boiler and tie pudding over the boiling water – steam for 6 hours – top up water as necessary.

After six hours, remove pudding from the boiler and when cold, unwrap. Then you can wrap in greaseproof paper and a few layers of foil and store until required. This can be reheated in the microwave or steamed again.

I usually make this in November for Christmas day.

[Winterself]

these seem more like fruit cake..they sounds wonderful tho.my mom use to make me a fresh fruit cake.cause i dont like the items that goes into a fruit cake..and it was so good.it was very solid like a fruit cake too.thanks for the recipes.

[Noel+]

Jodie's recipe s are always fabulous! Last Christmas I tried one of her favorite "pudding" recipes, and my family is already planning on it for Christmas dinner this year!

[Mrs.Claus]

these seem more like fruit cake..

Around here fruitcake is called Christmas Cake at Christmas time. At weddings fruitcake is called Wedding Cake, and at other times it's just plain fruitcake. It can get a little confusing.

[Noel+]

Around here fruitcake is called Christmas Cake at Christmas time. At weddings fruitcake is called Wedding Cake, and at other times it's just plain fruitcake. It can get a little confusing

How interesting! I never knew that! I thought Christmas Cake was a special layer cake!