Planning ahead for Christmas
Time is flying by! I
was only preparing Halloween treats and a party and taking down decorations
like ‘yesterday’. Now I’m thinking
Christmas. And rightly so as all you
foodies will know……Christmas cakes and puddings take their time but done
correctly will be moist and yummy!
I pick up bits and pieces throughout the whole year for
Christmas. Whenever I see something cool
or reasonable I think “who would love that for Christmas” or “wouldn’t that be
nice for Christmas”. It takes the
pressure off both my pocket and my brain when Christmas comes around.
Then once Halloween is over I then start picking up food
stuff and more bits and pieces every week.
I was tempted over the Halloween in certain shops…….on one side was
Halloween stuff and on the other Christmas!
But I refrained and stopped myself and told myself “after Halloween,
after Halloween”!
So here I am now, into the 2nd week of November
and thinking about Christmas prep. I
baked some yummy BROWNIES (recipe on separate post) and as I dusted them with
icing sugar I thought they looked quite festive. That got me thinking of Christmas
cooking. I took out my cooking and prep
notes and had a little read. It seems
only like yesterday I was doing it for last year!
CHRISTMAS CAKE:
So now ladies (& gents) we concentrate on PLUMPING FRUIT
and getting our CHRISTMAS CAKE ready and baked so that we can feed it regularly
with booze. It can be fed for anywhere
from 2 -12 weeks! I usually tend to do
it for about 3-4 weeks.
My cake recipe requires 9inch round or 8inch square tin.
Again, once you have these spices bought in and stored you
will have them for the next time.
The cake is a long slow cooking process but guarantees a
yummy moist Christmas cake at the end of it.
You may not have the patience to prepare, bake and mature a
Christmas cake but I promise it’s rewarding and tastes so yummy come Christmas
time. Not to mention the amazing aromas
that will engulf your house.
Memories:
When I was growing up, my father used to make dozens of
these over the weeks leading up to Christmas.
I remember thinking he must have being feeding a nation with the amount
he made. Some of the cakes went to work
with him, some given to relations and the remainder were left for us to devour
at home!
I remember how we
were warned to be so quite coming and going because if we were to bang a door,
the cake would flop. I remember being oh
so careful opening and closing the doors and sometimes I wouldn’t dare leave a room in case I was
the culprit to flop the Christmas cake!
But I also remember the amazing smell and aroma around the house. That is Christmas memories for me.
I know it seems like a lot of reading and effort but I
promise it’s not that difficult. It’s so
rewarding come Christmas time when you have a beautiful tasty and moist cake to
show off. If you would not use up all of
the cake, you could cut it up, nicely decorate it, wrap it up and give it to
family around the festive season.
My advice is to read through this first and then again
before making it to familiarise yourself with it.
Also, have all your ingredients measured and ready along
with the tools you will need.
And most important to have your dried fruit soaked the night
before.
You can use either sherry or brandy. My choice is brandy.
And remember…it should be fun and exciting preparing
it.
PREPARING OUR FRUIT (For Christmas cake
baking)
Don’t forget to write down your fruit ingredients you will
need on your shopping list and have them bought in for when you want to prepare
you fruit. You will be baking your cake
the following day.
TIP: Write down all the ingredients from this
recipe onto a sheet of paper so you will have it when you are shopping next.
The ingredients are for my version and the fruit you will
need to SOAK are as follows:
- 1 ¾ - 2 lb mixed dried fruit (raisins/sultanans/currants etc)
- Place
them in a bowl and mix with 3tbsp brandy.
- Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to soak overnight/12hrs to absorb the alcohol and plump up.
PREPARING TIN:
This step is also very important too. It is important to line the tin well for a
good moist cake…..it will prevent over browning and dried out edges and base.
It will protect it from the heat of the oven.
SQUARE TIN:
1.
Measure length and width of
tin. Add twice to its depth. Cut parchment/greaseproof paper. Place the tin down on the centre of the paper
to measure. Cut 4 cuts from the edge of
the paper to the corners of the tin.
2.
Grease the tin base and sides with
oil/butter. Fit down your prepared
parchment paper into base, folding and overlapping it at the corners.
3.
Cut another piece of parchment
paper the size of just the base and place into the base.
4.
Brown paper is then tied around
the outside to the same height as your parchment to protect the cake during the
long, slow cooking process.
5.
When you spoon your cake mix into
tin, place a double layer of parchment on top with a 50c sized hole in the
centre. Make sure it fits on the top of
the cake and NOT on the rim of the brown paper.
ROUND TIN:
1.
Grease the whole tin with
oil/butter
2.
Cut a strip of parchment slightly
longer than the circumference of the tin.
Make sure its 3 inches higher than tin also. Fold it back about 1 inch along its length,
then snip it at an angle at intervals up to the fold.
3.
Press paper around sides (snipped
edge will overlap on the base of tin for snug fit). Finally, cut a circle out (use tin as a
template) to fit over the snipped paper over the base.
4.
Brown paper is then tied around
the outside to the same height as your parchment to protect the cake during the
long, slow cooking process.
5.
When you spoon your cake mix into
tin, place a double layer of parchment on top with a 50c sized hole in the
centre. Make sure it fits on the top of
the cake and NOT on the rim of the brown paper.
CHRISTMAS CAKE
RECIPE:
1.
Preheat oven to 140°’C.
2.
Sieve 12oz flour with ½
- 1 tsp mixed spice in a bowl.
3.
In your mixer, cream together 8oz
butter; 8oz moist brown sugar and 1 level tbsp golden syrup.
4.
In a separate bowl whisk 4 eggs
with 4 tbsp brandy. Gradually
beat this into your butter mix. If
curdling appears, add a little of the sieved flour.
5.
Fold in the flour mix with a METAL
SPOON and then add the prepared soaked fruit mix along with 2-4oz
chopped glace cherries; 2-4oz chopped mixed peel; 2-4oz chopped blanched
almonds (optional) and the zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange. Make sure everything is well and truly
combined. You may need to transfer to a
larger mixing bowl for more room to work.
6.
Put your mixture into your
prepared tin; flatten the top and tie the brown paper around the outside of the
tin with some twine.
7.
Fix your prepared ‘50c’ parchment
now as outlined above.
8.
Paying attention to the
temperature of the oven is also another extremely important step. Bake your cake on the lowest shelf of the
oven for 4 HOURS until it feels springy in the centre. DO NOT LOOK AT IT FOR 4 HOURS…DO NOT OPEN THE
DOOR AT ALL! If it needs a further 30-40 mins after the 4 hours then so be it.
9.
Cool the cake for 30 mins
in the tin then transfer it to a wire rack to finish cooling.
10.
When it’s cooled make small holes
in the top and bottom of the cake with a cocktail stick and spoon in a couple
of tablespoons of brandy.
11.
Wrap the cake firstly with
parchment paper and then in tin foil.
Remember you will be feeding this cake with Brandy so make it easy to
get at and open. But you must store it
in an airtight tin or make sure it is thoroughly sealed.
12.
Continue to feed your cake with
brandy at intervals until you are ready to eat or ice it.
ICING your
Christmas cake is a really festive and lovely touch. It is simple to do and is great to show off
to family and friends.
You can buy ready made icing to roll out which is perfectly
acceptable and probably the easiest option. You can also opt for MARZIPAN if you
prefer.
Getting the consistency of your icing takes patience but
when done it looks and tastes great.
So, you’ve made your cake and fed it for a couple of weeks
now. Now it’s ready to be iced.
The Christmas cake is lined firstly with an ALMOND ICING and
then with ROYAL ICING.
First step: ALMOND ICING:
1.
Mix together:
·
11lb Ground almonds
·
10oz caster sugar
·
10oz icing sugar
2.
Mix together:
·
3 whole eggs
·
2 drops almond essence
·
1 tbsp sherry
3.
Add enough liquid to the dry
ingredients to get a firm paste.
4.
Knead well together to make a
smooth paste.
5.
Apply to top and sides of your
cake and allow to set before covering with royal icing.
Second step: ROYAL ICING:
1.
Sieve 1lb icing sugar
2.
Put 3-4 egg whites in a
bowl; add the icing sugar slowly, beating well with a wooden spoon or in a
mixer.
3.
Beat in 2tsp lemon juice.
4.
Using a pallet knife layer the
cake, peaking it at the ends for a snowy iced effect. Alternatively you can smooth it down for a
nice smooth effect. And leave to set.
5.
You may then decorate your cake
with whatever ribbons and toppers you fancy.
Now for our beautiful juicy CHRISTMAS PUDDING:
Again, you will need to start the night before with soaking.
Your pudding does not need as long as your Christmas cake to
mature. However, it will take around 6
hours to slowly cook. The smells in your
kitchen and house will be amazing though and definitely set the Christmas
spirit.
Again, I would advise you to write all your ingredients down
for your shopping list and read through the method first to familiarise
yourself.
1.
Mix 100g melted butter &
175g fresh breadcrumbs together. Add
to this the following ingredients, mix thoroughly and allow to stand overnight:
- 75g
self raising flour
- 225g
raisins
- 225g
sultanas
- 50g
chopped mixed peel
- 100g
soft brown sugar
- 50g
chopped almonds
- ½
tsp ground nutmeg
- ½
tsp cinnamon
- 1tsp
mixed spice
- 1 small carrot grated
- 3
beaten eggs
- ¼
pt Guinness
- Grated
rind of 1 orange
2.
Grease a 2 ½ pt pudding bowl and
place the mix into this. Cover with a
double layer of greaseproof paper, leaving a pleated fold in the centre to
ensure pudding can expand slightly.
3.
Then cover with a layer of tin
foil and tie securely with a sting to prevent any water or steam from entering
the pudding.
4.
Half fill a large saucepan with
water and bring to the boil. On a very
low heat place the pudding into the water, cover and steam for about 6 hours. I steam mine over the range stove. Check your water level frequently so it never
boils dry. When cooked the pudding will
have a beautiful deep brown colour.
5.
Remove the pudding and allow to
cool completely in its tin foil and paper. Then insert a skewer in the pudding
and pour in a little brandy if you like for an extra hit! Cover again with Fresh greaseproof and
retie. Store in a cool dry place until
Christmas day.
NOTE: The pudding must sit and mature otherwise it
will collapse if eaten straight away.
Allow to sit for a couple of weeks, perhaps 2 or 3 for the flavours to
mature.
It needs to be reheated then on Christmas day.
6.
To reheat the pudding steam
again for about an hour.
AND of course presenting your pud with a flaming top
is a show stopper:
·
Pour 2-3tbsp brandy into a
long handled metal ladle and heat over a flame or heat in a small saucepan
first then transfer to the ladle. Get it
nice and hot.
·
Tilt the ladle into the flame or
light it with a match for the spirit to catch flame. Immediately pour over the pudding and bring
to the table.
(wait for the flames to go out
before serving!)
Last year my pudding went down a storm with my BRANDY BUTTER.
It’s Easy Peasy:
1.
Cream together 50g butter with
100g sieved icing sugar.
2.
Bit by bit blend in 2tbsp
boiling water & 3tbsp brandy until smooth.
3.
Chill until needed. This can be made a couple of days in advance
and stored in the fridge.
So, there you have it.
Christmas baking in a nutshell.
I hope you all have fun preparing for Christmas.
If you have any tips or ideas please share with us.
I would love to see all your pics also.
Keep up to date with all your Christmas baking and cooking
tips and recipes here on my blog over the coming weeks. Lots more to come!
HAVE FUN EASY PEASERS !
