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Visitor Put up by Becky of TheLifeStyleBlogger UK
When you haven’t already, it’s time to get occupied with your Christmas cake! For me, this usually begins again in October becuase I wish to soak the fruit for the cake in LOTS of alcohol. You dont have to soak it for that lengthy, even a couple of days could be sufficient although.
Nevertheless, if like me, you discover the concept of making an attempt to eat an enormous Christmas cake a bit daunting, or possibly there arent that many in your loved ones to share it with, I’ve obtained an alternative choice for you…and you continue to get to eat your scrumptious selfmade Christmas cake!
Final yr it was simply going to be myself and my husband consuming nearly all of the cake so as a substitute baking an enormous one like we usually do and struggling to eat it alone, I made a decision to make basically a tray bake Christmas cake as a substitute so it wasnt so massive and we might have chunk dimension items as a substitute of giant slices.
Right here is the recipe for those who fancy giving it a go this yr. Oh, and it additionally makes nice little selfmade presents too…
Elements
250g raisins
250g pure glacé cherries, halved, rinsed, and completely dried
100g cranberries
100 chopped apricots
150ml brandy, plus further for feeding
150ml Disaronno, plus further for feeding
250g un-salted butter, softened
250g gentle muscovado sugar
4 free-range eggs
1 tbsp black treacle
250g plain flour
2 tsp combined spice
Half a jar of marmalade
Fondant icing
Marzipan
Methodology
1/ Firstly, place all of the dried fruit into a big mixing bowl and pour over the brandy and disaronno and stir. Cowl with clingfilm and go away to soak for 3 days (the longer the higher), stirring day by day.
2/ Line a deep tray bake tin with a layer of greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.
3/ Measure the butter, sugar, eggs and treacle into a big bowl and beat nicely. After getting completely crushed the combination, add the flour and floor spice and blend completely till blended.
4/ Flippantly flour the soaked fruit (this can assist them keep up within the cake and never sink to the underside) and stir into the combination. Then pour into the ready cake tin and stage the floor.
5/ Bake within the centre of the preheated oven for about 2 hours (however test OFTEN), till the cake feels agency to the contact and is a wealthy golden brown. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake ought to come out clear as soon as the cake is prepared. Go away the cake to chill within the tin.
6/ When the cake has cooled, pierce the cake at intervals with a tremendous skewer and feed with just a little further brandy and disaronno (dependant on style).
7/ Relying on how lengthy you might have, preserve feeding your cake on a regular basis with extra brandy and disaronno – OPTIONAL STEP
8/ When you’re proud of the alcohol content material, you’ll be able to start protecting it with the marzipan and icing. Fondant icing is simpler to roll out and manipulate.
Brush the cake with marmalade earlier than placing on the marzipan, this can assist it to stay to the cake and provides it a scrumptious, stick, orangey zing! It additionally helps to maintain the cake moist till you eat it.
Then roll out your marzipan into the identical form as your tray. Be sure you roll out sufficient to cowl the cake and the perimeters and thoroughly carry it over the cake along with your rolling ppin.As soon as it’s in place, use the palms of your arms in round motions to assist ease the marzipan flat to the cake. This additionally helps eliminate air bubbles and make it look smoother.
9/ Then cowl the cake in a skinny layer of marmalade and do the identical with the fondant icing as you probably did with the marzipan.
10/ As soon as you might be proud of the way it seems, you’ll be able to start to brighten your cake nonetheless you’d like. I went for these cute little purple berries and inexperienced leaves (holly & berries) utilizing colored fondant icing. I did it by hand as I didn’t have small cutters however you would possibly be capable of discover someplace on-line that sells them able to go.
When you like the concept of giving them as presents, you should purchase actually low-cost little plastic baggage to place them in. Items that went down REALLY nicely with my household!
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