A Christmas Cake with a twist

Each year I have been making the same Christmas Cake year after year after year and I still love it and will be making it again some time in the future.

However, I still want to experiment with new things and this year I am making a Christmas Cake based on the older recipe but I have tweaked practically most of the ingredients.  Although I love the citrus flavour of the old cake I’ve used candied strawberries, cherry spoon sweet and eggplant spoon sweet.  Instead of almonds, I used hazelnuts and I flavoured it with the coffee liqueur I made both inside and also to wet the cake a couple of times.  I know that it’s hard to find eggplant spoon sweet abroad but you can add craisins instead, if you like.

This cake needs about a week to be ready, so today I am posting the basic cake recipe and I will update the remaining as I go ahead.

Note:  For those who are making a Christmas Cake for the first time, don’t think that it’s too early to make a cake for Christmas, as the Royal Icing seals the cake and it can be preserved for a very long time.

Spoon sweets should be placed in a colander for at least one day prior to preparating the cake.

Christmas Cake 2009, Recipe by Ivy

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

250 grams butter

100 grams muscovado sugar

100 grams Demerara sugar

2 tablespoons carob syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

6 eggs, lightly beaten

50 ml espresso rum brandy liqueur

3 cups (375grams) self raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp cloves

½ tsp nutmeg

1 cup (150 grams) hazelnuts

1 cup candied strawberries

1 cup eggplant spoon sweet (4 eggplants), cut into small pieces

½ cup cherry spoon sweet

I changed the almond paste this year by adding some coconut in it.  I increased the amount of orange blossom water by a few tablespoons and then added the coconut.  See the  procedure here.

For the Almond Coconut Paste:

Ingredients:

• 250 grams almonds, blanched and ground
• 235 grams icing sugar
• 2 egg whites whipped
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 - 5 tablespoons orange blossom water or rose water
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/3 cup dessicated coconut
  

Royal Icing:

I did not change anything to the Royal Icing.   I added the ornaments on top, which this year are all edible and spinkled some coconut on top of the icing.

Additional Ingredients which were used:

• Coffee Liqueur (or brandy) (twice x 40 ml each time)
  
• Jam (strawberry, cherry or sour cherry).  I used cherry jam.
  

To Decorate the Cake:

• Almond paste
  
• Royal Icing
• Edible Christmas Decorations
  

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Line a 27 x 30 cm baking tin with parchment paper.
2. Sieve the flour with the salt.
3. Cream the butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl and then mix in the carob syrup and the eggs, one at a time until incorporated.
4. Add the Coffee Liqueur and Vanilla essence.
5. In a bowl add the dried fruit, hazelnuts and all spices as well as the flour and mix well to coat the fruit.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix until incorporated.
   Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and make a slight hollow in the centre.
   Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for about 50 minutes and then test with a toothpick or a skewer until it comes out clean.
   Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes.
7. Remove the cake from the baking tin but leave the parchment paper on. Each day make a few holes in the cake with a skewer and pour over 3-4 tablespoons of coffee liqueur or brandy. (I use a big syringe).  Let the liqueur soak into the cake.
   Wrap the cake in foil or cling film and place back in the baking tin.  If you have airtight tin or plastic container, you can store it without the wrapping.  Repeat for two days.
8. In the meantime, blanch the almonds (see how here) and place on a clean napkin.  They should dry before grinding.
9. Remove parchment paper from the cake and place it in a platter.  Brush the cake with the cherry jam.
10. Prepare the almond paste which spread over the jam.   This should stay for two days to dry before adding the Royal Icing.

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to you all!!

This recipe goes to Cinzia of Cindystar, for her event Baking under the Christmas Tree.

Other relevant recipes:

Christmas Cake 2007

Christmas Cake 2008

Kourabiedes with Pistachios (Greek Christmas Cookies)

Melomakarona with Pecans (Greek Honey Cookies)

Amygdalota with white chocolate (No bake Almonds with chocolate)

Tags: Cakes, Cherries, Christmas, Eggplants, Festive, Fruit Cake, Hazelnuts, Strawberries