My first festive recipe this year and it’s a classic Christmas cake - make the cake soon to give it time to mature and then decorate it closer to the big day... just add about a tablespoonful of brandy once a week!
Making your own is definitely worth it - so much nicer than shop bought.
You can decorate it however you like, and use royal icing if you don’t fancy fondant!
Jill Stewart (@jillbakes_)
County Antrim Foodie and Instagrammer
INGREDIENTS…
Makes one 8 inch cake
250g raisins
250g sultanas
15 glace cherries, halved
100ml brandy or cold tea
Zest and juice of 1 orange
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
175g butter
1 tbsp black treacle
175g light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
175g self raising flour
60g ground almonds
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp apricot jam
454g pack ready-to-roll marzipan
Icing sugar, for rolling
1 roll ready rolled fondant icing
INSTRUCTIONS…
• Zest and juice the orange and lemon. Put in a large bowl with the sultanas, raisins and glace cherries. Pour over the brandy, cover with clingfilm and soak for at least an hour or overnight if you can.
• Grease and line an 8 inch cake tin. Preheat the oven to 130 degrees fan.
• Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and black treacle in a stand mixer (or with an electric mixer) until pale and fluffy - about 5-7 minutes.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating in before adding the next one.
• In another bowl, sieve in the flour, ground almonds, cinnamon and mixed spice. Mix thoroughly. Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed butter gently until combined.
• Pour in the soaked fruit and all the juices. Fold gently.
• Pour the mixture into the cake tin and smooth the surface with a knife.
• Bake for around 2 hrs or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
• If the cake is browning too much during cooking, cover with tin foil.
• When the cake is cooked, cool for an hour in the tin and then turn out onto a cooling rack.
• Pierce the cake with a skewer and add another tbsp brandy to soak in.
• Wrap in foil or clingfilm and keep until ready to decorate.
• Heat the apricot jam for 45 seconds in the microwave and brush over the whole cake.
• Dust a board with a little icing sugar, and roll out half the marzipan.
• Cut out a circle using the cake tin as a guide.
• Roll out the other half of the marzipan into a long thin strip the depth of the cake.
• Place the circle on the top, and stick the thin strip around the sides, pressing into place with your hands.
• Let it dry overnight if you can.
• Lay out the fondant icing circle. Set on top of the cake. Use your hands or a fondant smoother to smooth the tips and sides.
• Tie a ribbon around the bottom and decorate however you like. I used these wee fondant holly leaves and berries.
MEET JILL STEWART…
Jill Stewart, from Portglenone, is a true Foodie who brings her passions together to create a unique balance of both healthy dishes and sweet treats on her Instagram social media blog, Jill Bakes.
Jill is passionate about creating and sharing recipes on her Instagram platform (@jillbakes_) which are easy to follow, quick to make and not using hundreds of ingredients! And with almost 48,000 followers, a lot of people are enjoying Jill’s food journey.
The County Antrim lady has been a keen baker from a very young age, learning many skills from her late Grandma who was a fantastic baker.
Jill is a regular recipe contributor for Ireland’s Homes Interiors and Living magazine.
CLICK HERE to head over to INSTAGRAM to discover JILL BAKES - it is a fantastic blog where you'll discover enough inspiration to keep you baking and cooking for months!