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Icing on the cake will bowl them over this Christmas
Clare Latimer says it really is time to get those mixing bowls out and prepare your festive recipes
YOU will probably not like the fact that I am writing about Christmas already, but with half-term now over, you will be glad nearer the time, as these two major chores will have been done and waiting in a cool corner of your home.
Also the flavour will be much better, as they will have had time to mature in their booze.
And just remember, the smell in the house will be wonderful and it will put you in an early
festive mood.
Christmas pudding
If you want to make individual puddings, you can prepare tea cups and cover as you would for the larger ones. Just cut the cooking time down to one hour.
Ingredients
6 oz plain flour
1½ level teaspoons mixed spice
¾ level teaspoon ginger
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
225g white breadcrumbs
6oz finely shredded suet
6oz soft brown sugar
1½ lb dried mixed fruit
4 large beaten eggs
1½ level tablespoons black treacle
4 tbsp brandy
3 tbsp rum
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon.
Method
Sift flour and spices into bowl. Add crumbs, suet, sugar and fruit, and
thoroughly combine. Leave over night in a cool place. The next day, grease two pudding basins approx six inches in diameter by 3½ inches deep well with butter and line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared basins to approximately ½ inch from the top.
Cover securely with double-thickness greased foil, making sure it comes well over the edges of the basin. Tie around with string, looping over the top two or three times to form a handle.
Steam steadily in a large pan of boiling water for five hours,
topping up pan with extra boiling water about every hour.
The water should reach about ¾ of the way up the basin.
Do not allow pan to boil dry.
Remove foil cover and allow to cool.
Cover with new greaseproof paper and a cloth and store in the fridge until Christmas.
To serve, re-steam for 1½ hours, the same method as before or microwave for two
minutes on high. When cooked, turn out onto a plate and pour over two tablespoons of heated brandy and set alight.
Christmas cake
Ingredients
225g plain flour
¼ tsp salt
½ level teasp mixed spice
½ level teasp ground cinnamon
½ level teasp ground cloves
1 level teasp freshly ground nutmeg
200g butter
150g dark brown sugar
50g ground almonds
2 tbsp black treacle
1 tbsp marmalade
1 tbsp runny honey
Dash vanilla essence
4 eggs, lightly beaten
800g mixed dried fruits
Zest and juice of
1 lemon
150g dark glace
cherries, halved
100g chopped almonds
brandy.To decorate the cake:
200g marzipan
2 tbsp apricot jam, warmed.Royal Icing
3 egg whites
600g icing sugar, sieved
1½tsp liquid glycerine – optional
1 tbsp lemon juice.
Method
Heat the oven to 150C 300F Gas2. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the bottom and sides with baking parchment.
Sieve all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
Cream the butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix in the ground almonds, treacle, marmalade, honey and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs a little at a time into the mixture, beating as you go. Fold in the flour mixture until well mixed and then add the dried fruit, lemon rind and juice, glace cherries and the almonds. Spoon the mixture into the tin and make a slight hollow in the centre.
Bake for three hours and then test with a skewer. After fifteen minutes, turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
Once cool, make a few holes in the cake with a skewer and pour in two tablespoons of brandy. Store the cake wrapped in foil and in an airtight tin or plastic container, holes side up.
For a richer cake you can add more brandy as the weeks get nearer to Christmas and then wrap well again.
I will give you the recipes for icing the cake nearer the time. Keep watching! |
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