[GrannieAnnie]

Months?  My half has been in there since last December! lol

[GrannieAnnie]

And I don't mean Brian!!!   

[mumofstig]

perhaps you should have eaten the cake and frozen the OH   

[wighty]

The last time I made a cake for that time of year (being very careful how I word it ) I ended up scrapping off the icing and re-doing it as my daughters Christening cake, she is now 26!  I've never bothered since!

[Mrs Bee]

I have to admit I've never made one. You've made me feel like having a go now. Can anyone point me at a foolproof recipe?

This is the one I make year after year even if I make 2 to try out a new recipe.
175g glace cherries
175 large lexia raisins
75g currants
150g sultanas
50g mixed peel
100 ml brandy or perhaps a little more.... feel free to use rum or whisky what ever you prefer.
125 g brazil nuts
225 unsalted butter. must be butter not marg it makes all the difference
rind of one lemon
225g light soft muscovado sugar
4 eggs
2 tabs black treacle
225g plain flour
1tsp mixed spice
50g ground almonds.
20 cm round cake tin greased and lined with baking parchment.

SOak the fruit in 5 tabs booze over night.

Then continue as normal. Cream butter and sugar till really light and fluffy and then whack all the other ingredients together.
 
Before baking the cake put a folded up newspaper on a baking tray and make a thick collar of newpaper aroung the outside of the tin.
bake for at 150C for about 3-3 and 1/3 hours or until a fine skewer comes out of the cake clean.
Check the cake every hour and if it is browning too much cover the top with several layers of brown paper or greaseproof paper


Leave the cake to cool and then pierce all over with the skewer and drizzle with the remainng booze. Wrap first in greaseproof paper and then in tin foil and put in the cake tin. Feed once a week with an extra tab of the chosen booze.

I have iced the cakes in the past but these days I put a collar of white marzipan around the side and fill the top with crystalised fruit and nuts covered in a apricot jam glaze mixed with a little more of the chosen booze.... well it is the winter solstice/Christmas


edit: just because the norty word is the last one in the post doesn't mean we can't see it 

Oh Yorkie.... I thought I had got away with that one

[hamstergbert]

I suspect  yule  not get another warning......





Nice try HGB 

[mumofstig]

^      ^

[Willow_Warren]

Can't believe you need to freeze any!  We have always fought over ours.... have had convsations as children along the lines of "well you had a piece yesterday when I didn't... so I'm owed a piece..."  we've not changed much since!  We were always fortunate as my mum would normally think the first one she's made was dry and would make another, which we would then eat after the frist one was finished 

Hannah

[GrannieAnnie]

I froze it to try to stop Brian eating it!  It worked, as he kept forgetting it was in there!   

[Trillium]

I always made mine in early October so it would have a few months to 'ripen' and develop flavour. I would resoak the cheesecloth wrapper with Irish Mist every 2 weeks then put it back into it's zippered poly bag. By the right day it was very tasty.
By making it in October, it took away the pressure of getting it done in yet another busy season.

Don't make it much now as I was the only one who liked it and my mother can no longer eat sweet stuff as she must control her borderline diabetes.

[wighty]

The last 'Winter Festival Cake' I made had the icing scrapped off and turned into a Christening cake for my youngest and she's now 26!

[hamstergbert]

it's probably an age thing, Wighty.....

[mumofstig]

probably, I didn't like to say 

[MoreWhisky]

Im off to buy my ingredients today, so come here to check out good recipes as i knew i would find best ones here.
After reading them all im going to make MrsBall recipe.
Thanks all.

[Mrs Bee]

I hope you enjoy it as much as my family, More Whisky.

Would I be correct in thinking the alchohol you choose for your cake will be whisky