Thursday, November 11, 2010

Christmas Cake recipes

A selection of favourites 




Easy Xmas Cake         (Diane Fraser of Nelson)

I've made this one for years now, since I got it off SkyTV - it's replaced my Condensed milk recipe (which everyone loves as well. For that recipe scroll down). =A=


Oven Temp:130C: cooking time: 4 hours       

Diane says --    
            This recipe was given to my mother in the early 1960s by an elderly friend. It had been brought from England and was originally the Litchfield family Xmas cake made by their cook for many years. It was different in that you didn't have to cream butter and sugar and there were no spices in it. I have never had a failure and it is always moist and keeps for a long time. Everyone I have given this recipe to has loved it.  
     
      Ingredients:      
            1-1/2 - 2 kg good quality dried fruit and nuts, I use 1kg of mixed fruit and put extra dried cherries, apricots, peaches sticky raisins, figs, and any other fruit that you like plus chopped nuts.
Marinate this for minimum 24hrs in 1/2 cup Brandy or other spirits.

250gms butter [chopped]
1 cup brown sugar
1 large tablespoon golden syrup + 1 cup of boiling milk
3 large beaten eggs
3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
                                   
    Method:          
            Place butter, sugar, syrup in large bowl and pour over boiling milk.
Stir till melted then add beaten eggs and sifted dry ingredients to make a medium batter.
Next take the marinated fruit and add 1 large tablespoon of flour to this and stir to coat
Then add batter to fruit.
Place in lined 8-9 inch tin
Bake in slow oven (I don't use fan assisted).
Check after 4 hours it may need a little longer.
This is lovely with a butter icing flavoured with Brandy. You may need to keep cake in a cool place if you use brandy icing.

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Condensed Milk Cake
The original:
2 pkts fruit mix (about 1 Kg)
1 C water
½ tsp nutmeg
½ 1b butter
1 Tb vinegar
½ tsp mixed spice

Put all in pot and bring to boil – cool

Add
1 tsp baking soda
1 tin condensed milk
½ tsp salt
Vanilla, almond and lemon essences
2 ½ C plain flour
Brandy or sherry

Cook 2 ½ hours at 160 deg. C

My variations
I usually boil the fruit with ½ C alcohol (usually brandy) and ½ C water.
I add more spices – cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and increase the quantities of nutmeg and mixed spice.

Occasionally I add an egg and extra fruit.

I also add rose essence and/or orange flower essence, and pour over a T or 2 of brandy when the cake is cooked.
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I'm not sure where I got this recipe from but it's in my collection:

Nicest Easy Fruit Cake by Christine MacKenzie
posted by doug on 06/26/07

225g butter                                1 cup sugar
1 cup milk                                 1 tbl golden syrup
1 tsp baking soda                      2 tbl cold water
3 eggs                                      1 tsp pure vanilla essence
2 cups flour                               1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice                      700g mixed fruit

Bring to the boil butter, sugar, milk and golden syrup. Remove from heat.
Mix baking soda with water and stir in.

Beat eggs then thoroughly stir into the warm liquids. Leave to cool to lukewarm. (You can leave it for half an hour or for several hours, or if in a hurry hasten by cooling the pot in a sink of cold water.)
Heat oven to 180° deg C. Line a square or round 23cm cake tin with baking paper.
Mix vanilla into cooled liquids, spread into lined tin.
Optional: arrange blanched almonds on top.   Add almond essence in with vanilla.

Bake 180° deg C for one hour. Turn off the oven and leave the cake in the oven for another 20 minutes.   Cool in the tin on a wire rack for an hour then turn out.