Taken from the 13th issue of Jamie Oliver‘s monthly publication, this moist and rich fruit cake is nothing short of a grand celebration cake. Though I halved the proportions to bake a smaller cake, I believe it loses none of decadence and splendor as a Christmas table centerpiece. Following Jaime’s advice, I blitzed part of the soaked fruit for a soft, cake-like consistency and baked my batter in a 15cm pan at a temperature a little below 150oC for almost 2 hours. For the finishing touches, I scraped off the overcooked top, leveling it flat with a bread knife and patching up the rough spots with a scant layer of vanilla buttercream. In keeping with tradition, I topped the cooled cake with a thick coat of home made marzipan, smoothing it out with a layer of snowy white fondant icing. Merry Christmas everyone!
TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS CAKE
Ingredients:
600g raisins
200g currants
100g dried sour or glacé cherries
250g mixed dried fruits, finely chopped
400ml brandy or rum, plus extra
300g butter, room temperature
200g dark brown sugar
Zest from 1 lemon
4 eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons treacle
300g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
150g ground almonds
150g walnuts, chopped
Method:
- The night before, place the dried fruit in a saucepan with the booze and bring mixture to a simmer.
- Pour into a bowl, cool, cover and leave to soften. The following day, preheat the oven to 150C/gas 2.
- Line base and sides of a 23cm round or a 20cm square tin with a double layer of greaseproof paper.
- You will need the side lining of greaseproof paper to be at 8cm higher than the round or square tin.
- If you like the cake to be particularly moist, blitz half the soaked fruit in a processor to make a paste.
- Stir it back into the rest of the fruit. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
- Grate in the zest of the lemon and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Then, mix in the treacle. Sift flour.
- Combine spices and ground almonds. Mix into the butter mixture, alternating with the soaked fruit.
- Finally, fold in the walnuts. Spoon mixture into the lined tin and bake in the oven for about 3 hours.
- Check after 2½ hours and then every 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, brush with a little more booze. Leave it to cool in the tin.
- Remove after 5 minutes and place the hot cake directly onto a large sheet of tin foil. Wrap it up twice.
- This will retain the heat of the cake for as long as possible. After a few hours, remove cake from foil.
- Wrap the cooled cake up again in a double sheet of greaseproof paper and a double sheet of tin foil.
- Make sure you can access the cake from the top. Store cake in an airtight container for 2–12 weeks.
- Feed the cake the alcohol of your choice by gently pouring it over the top and rewrapping. Serves 16.
Merry Christmas!
16 comments
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October 24, 2016 at 7:23 pm
Mary Baines
Very good
November 21, 2016 at 7:07 pm
Brenda
Omgoodness trying to convert from grams to cups!!!!!
November 3, 2020 at 4:08 pm
Tracey
1/2 cup 64 g 2.25 oz
2/3 cup 85 g 3 oz
3/4 cup 96 g 3.38 oz
1 cup 128 g 4.5 oz
November 25, 2016 at 6:15 pm
nancy meagher
what setting for a fan oven please
November 30, 2016 at 5:09 pm
prerrnamirchi
sorry nancy no idea as I have never used a fan oven
November 2, 2018 at 8:40 pm
jane
130 degrees in a fan oven
November 16, 2018 at 1:52 am
matilda dawson
Amazing rich fruit cake for christmas ! Thank you for sharing. Mr. Jamie. I am an ardant follower of your cooking shows. To me you are the most reputable baker and a cilinary geneius. You are indeed a gift from God to us who have and will be benefiting from your sharing. God bless you, sir.
November 27, 2018 at 6:25 pm
Vera Lígia Brandão
Can we have the frosting recipe?
December 20, 2018 at 4:15 pm
Valerie van Blomestein
Please give us the home-made marzipan recipe
August 17, 2019 at 5:51 pm
Hazel
How to change from metric forthe amounts
October 6, 2019 at 7:42 pm
Amiena Amos
Awesome! I would like to bake 3cakes at a time. Which setting should it be.
November 8, 2019 at 12:07 pm
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December 7, 2020 at 6:56 am
Bex
Should this have bicarbonate in it?
October 31, 2021 at 4:59 am
Celia Paradiso
The recepe is fantastic but I dont know if to keep it outside or in the refrigeretor when is finish.
November 16, 2021 at 8:05 am
Marlene Wilkins
Thankyou for the recipe for this cake; Looks very good. My mother was from Wales and made a cake that was drier than the average cake and I have not been able to find a recipe that resembles it. Would you by chance know the cake that I talk about. Not very sweet and easy to eat a couple of pieces at least for a child. If you have a recipe that is like this I would love to know. Thankyou very much. M
December 10, 2021 at 3:44 am
Lygia Spence
Where can I buy/purchase this cake??