Photo: from open sources
Bake this amazing cake for Christmas, a traditional British holiday cake.
The traditional English Christmas cake has a rich taste and will decorate the holiday table. It is believed that the richer the baked goods, the more generous and happier the coming year will be. The taste of this cake is fully revealed only two weeks after preparation. If desired, you can keep it for several months, this will only make it better.
The Focus publication shared a proven recipe for an English Christmas cake with candied fruits, nuts and orange blossom.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- flour – 75 g;
- salt – on the tip of the knife;
- spice mixture for Christmas baking (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves) – 3 g;
- vanillin – 1 g;
- dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, figs, dates, pineapple, banana, kiwi, papaya – or any others to taste) – 230 g;
- nuts (almonds and/or hazelnuts) – 300 g;
- butter – 75 g;
- sugar (demerara if possible) – 75 g;
- orange blossom (orange water) – a few drops optional;
- zest of half an orange;
- large chicken egg – 1 pc. (or two small ones);
- cognac or rum for impregnation – 150 g, divided into 3 servings.
Preparation:
- Sift the flour twice with salt and spices. Cut large dried fruits into pieces. Roast the nuts in a dry frying pan. Peel the hazelnuts, use unshelled almonds.
- Beat butter and sugar until white. Add orange blossom, orange zest and chicken egg if desired. Mix the mixture with a mixer until smooth.
- Add flour in parts, kneading the dough with a spatula. Add dried fruits and nuts, stir until they are evenly distributed in the dough.
- You can use any dried fruits you like, but the richer the set, the more interesting the taste of the finished cupcake will be. The only exception is prunes. When using prunes, the dough turns out too dark and not so beautiful.
- Preheat oven to 150°C. Line a cake pan with foil and place the batter in it.
- Bake the cake for about 50 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 130°C and bake for another 20 minutes. Check the doneness of the cake with a wooden skewer. To do this, pierce the cake in the central part and pull out the skewer – it should remain dry, without sticking lumps of raw dough.
- Remove the cake from the oven, place on a wire rack and let cool without removing from the pan.
- Turn the cooled cake over and place on a new sheet of foil. Pierce it with a wooden skewer in several places, pour rum or cognac on it and wrap it in foil. Store the cake until Christmas or New Year’s in a cool, dark place (but not in the refrigerator!).
- Let the cake sit for at least two weeks before cutting. During this time, soak it in alcohol one or two more times.
