Nutrition balance score
Unbalanced
Glycemic Index
51
Low
Nutrition per recipe
Calories10668.4 kcal (533%)
Total Fat475.2 g (679%)
Carbs1593.9 g (613%)
Sugars1129.9 g (1255%)
Protein154.9 g (310%)
Sodium1194.6 mg (60%)
Fiber128.8 g (460%)
% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet
Ingredients
0 servings
5 tablespoonsorange juice
liquid, for example a mixture of and cranberry, cool black earl grey tea or if you’re super keen, brandy or another spirit
900gdried fruits
fancy, like, apricots, dates figs, prunes, glacé cherries, dried blueberries, and candied peel, chopped into 1cm pieces
500gdried fruits
vine, like, blackcurrants, raisins, sultanas, those giant california flame raisins are great, or cranberries - lots of different colours are great
orange
the zest and juice of, large
lemon
big
350gbutter
soft, at room temperature
300gsoft brown sugar
a combination of light brown and darker muscovado works well - again, use more of the former if you want a light sponge, and more of the latter if you want a bit more colour
5eggs
large, free-range
100gground almonds
150gnuts
shelled and roughly chopped, i especially love, pecans, but hazelnuts or almonds are good too, and less expensive
1 tspbaking powder
350gplain flour
a mixture of white and wholemeal is great
Instructions
Step 1
The night before you bake your cake, warm your liquid by simmering in a small pan (do not boil it), then pour over all of your dried fruit and zest in a bowl. Mix thoroughly and leave to cool and soak overnight – your fruit will be juicy and plump in the morning – perfect for baking. Leave your butter out of the fridge overnight too, to soften up.
Step 2
On the day, pre-heat your oven to 160°C/325°F and double-line a round 20cm baking tin with parchment, leaving a couple of cm sticking out of the top. Combine your soft butter with the sugars in a food mixer or, if you’re working on toning up your biceps, go for it by mixing by hand in a large bowl. Cream until a light fluffy mixture forms – it’ll be lighter in colour than what you started with – the fluffier the better.
Step 3
Crack in the eggs one at a time, with a little spoonful of the almonds each time to stop the mixture curdling. Once combined, add in the flour, baking powder and the remainder of the ground almonds, plus the nuts, and mix until just combined. Then add in the pre-soaked fruit – there shouldn’t be much liquid left at the bottom of the bowl, but do add in any dribbles that are left. Mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is combined.
Step 4
Pour the mixture into your cake tin until it’s 3/4 full and ensure the top of the mix is flat, so you get a nice evenly-topped cake. Depending on your mix you might have lots left over, so just make another smaller cake or lots of little Christmas cupcakes.
Step 5
Bake for one hour, then turn the cake around (in case your oven has any hot spots), reduce the temperature to 150ºC/300ºF and bake for another hour. Check the cake to see whether it’s done by inserting a skewer or the tip of a thin-bladed knife – when its done, there might be a couple of crumbs sticking to the knife, but there should be no raw mixture. It might need up to another 30 minutes depending on your mixture.
Step 6
Leave the cake to cool inside the tin so that it keeps its shape, and when ready to serve, either dust a little bit of icing sugar on the top, or cover in marzipan and decorate however you like best! It also keeps really well, so I tend to bake my Christmas cake in early December before things go completely mad at the Bakery with Christmas orders.
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