Christmas Cake

Finally, I have made my Christmas cake. Lucky they keep so well and this one is so tasty that it really can be a New Years cake. We have been making this cake for a few year now, I am not a big fan of standard Christmas cakes. This one has chocolate and tastes a bit more like a fruit cake. I think because you don't soak the fruit for weeks the brandy flavour isn't so strong. I don't really like brandy. I also leave out the cherries and the walnuts. Don't like them either. So I am sounding a bit fussy, but hey it is my Christmas cake!

The recipe came from Dish magazine, 2009! Dish is great. It is NZ based so the ingredients are seasonal to New Zealand and there really isn't anything too strange. So most of the time the bulk of the ingredients are in the pantry. Sometime I find recipes and the ingredients are a little out there and you have to go and spends loads on stuff you may never use again. We had a subscription for Dish and it was awesome. I keep saying I must get another one but so far I haven't. I buy it all the time though. It is sort of like a sewing book, provides inspiration and lots of it!.

Brandied Fruit, Chocolate and Spice Christmas Cake:

500 grams dried fruit cake mix

250 grams pitted prunes

1 cup of grated apple

2 tablespoons of golden syrup

1 cup of brandy.

Leave in a bowl, turning every som often for up to three weeks. We usually leave it for a couple of days. But you can use it straight away. I think we did that last year and it still was yummy.

175 grams butter

3/4 cups of raw sugar

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and mixed spice

250 gram of dark chocolate

zest of one orange

3 tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, beat. Combine all the other ingredients. Line a baking tin with three layers of baking paper and the pour mixture in. Place over the top a sheet of paper and press it into the mix.

The the baking tray just below half way, oven at 150 degrees and bake for approx two hours. Check at 1 and 1/2 hours. Cool in tin.

I am planning on putting together home make "sampler" boxes. So a bit of this, some fudge and a couple of types of biscuits. So today I want to make two batches of biscuits. Not too challenging I think. Oh and then house work, tidying, sorting, wrapping. Plenty of time!

Tx