Christmas cake

 I've used the same cake recipe since the late 70's, the only change I make is to leave out the almonds, thus allowing me to eat some. Here is the 3 main components, mixed fruit and peel soaked overnight in the zest and juice of three oranges, the brown looking sludge is dark brown sugar, butter and eggs, the dry ingredients are plain flour various spices and halved glacé cherries, all stirred together, the flour mixture stops the sticky cherries clumping together. 

Everything is popped into the huge bowl and mixed together ensuring there are no white flour left showing, this makes a huge cake, both hubby and I love Christmas cake. Into a double lined cake tin, with a wet tin wrap on the outside to stop it over cooking, years ago I would have wrapped newspaper around the outside of the tin. Bake for 120ºfor 3 hours. 

Once cooked I turn the cake upside down so the top is flat and start to add brandy, I do not put brandy in the dried fruit soak, I prefer the citrus flavours in the fruit. Cakes need 3 drinks of brandy before they are marzipan and iced, which I leave as late as possible, so the almond paste does not seep to far into the cake. I always trim my slice of cake never eating the edges.

Every year I get this sheet of paper with the recipe typed by me, originally it came from a magazine, I do have a copy on my computer, but it's rewarding to see my messy sheet, things have been spilt on it. I have made notes for cooking times, these have changed over the years as our ovens get better at their job.

The tip of putting the cherries into the flour was given to me by my mum, in senior school there was a baking competition we had to make cherry cake, I followed mum's instructions and won first prize, my cake was the only cake where the cherries did not sink. My prize a huge cookbook, called Colour Cooking by Good Housekeeping, which I still own, sadly it's rarely used, it's falling apart at the seams.

This is my domain, hubby bakes all through the year, but I always make the Christmas cake, infact I make 3, second for daughter and third for brother. Last year I started making mincemeat, which is easy and taste much better, I also want to make puddings, which won't be ate this year, I will do the same as my mum and store them for a year to infuse flavours.

The house smells of Christmas spices, it's warm with the oven on, I cook our big cake first and on the next day the two smaller ones. 

Now to decide how to decorate them, I make all the decorations, daughter and I did a course a few years ago, nothing too fancy. I always use fondant icing, which I purchase ready to roll.