Christmas cake

Name: Christmas cake
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 3 h
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Cuisine: European, British
Ingredients: 800g luxury mixed fruit; 5 tbsp brandy; 2 balls stem ginger, finely chopped; 50g blanched almonds, chopped; 1 lemon, zested; 1 orange, zested; 175g plain flour; 1 tsp ground mixed spice; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 225g dark muscovado sugar; 225g unsalted butter; 4 medium eggs, beaten; 50g ground almonds; 3 tbsp apricot glaze, warmed; 1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting; 454g golden marzipan; 750g ready-to-roll icing

6 steps

Prep:30minCook:3h

A traditional fruit-rich cake that's delicious at any time of year, but at its best iced-up for Christmas

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 13:06:07 GMT

Nutrition balance score

Unbalanced

Glycemic Index

High

Glycemic Load

High

Nutrition per serving

Calories400.3 kcal (20%)

Total Fat17 g (24%)

Carbs56.1 g (22%)

Sugars47.5 g (53%)

Protein4.2 g (8%)

Sodium38.5 mg (2%)

Fiber2.1 g (7%)

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ingredients

25 servings

800gmixed fruit

luxury

5 Tbspbrandy

2 ballsstem ginger

finely chopped

50gblanched almonds

chopped

1lemon zested

1orange zested

175gplain flour

1 tspground mixed spice

1 tspground cinnamon

225gdark muscovado sugar

225gunsalted butter

4eggs

medium, beaten

50gground almonds

3 Tbspapricot glaze

warmed

1 Tbspicing sugar

for dusting

454ggolden marzipan

750gready-to-roll icing

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan 140°C/gas mark 3. Grease an 18cm square cake tin and line with baking parchment. Tie a folded piece of baking parchment around the outside of the tin to protect against the heat.

Step 2

Place the mixed fruit and brandy in a large pan and heat gently for 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool. Add the ginger, chopped almonds and lemon and orange zest.

Step 3

Sift the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and ½ tsp salt into another bowl. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sugar and butter until fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs until combined. Fold in the flour and spice mixture and the ground almonds, then fold in the soaked fruit and nut mixture.

Step 4

Spoon into the prepared tin and level. Bake for 2½ to 3 hours, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cover with foil for the last part of the cooking time if it’s getting too dark. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Step 5

Brush the cake with the glaze. Dust your work surface with the icing sugar and roll out the marzipan to ½cm thick. Lay over the cake, trim, then brush with boiled, cooled water. Roll out the icing to 1cm thick, then lay over the cake and trim.

Step 6

Cut 3 stars from the icing trimmings with a large cookie cutter. Remove the centres with a smaller star cutter and set aside. Stick the outlines on the cake with warm water. Decorate the cake to your taste.

View on sainsburys.co.uk

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