Christmas & whisky: how to make the perfect Christmas cake

One of things I enjoy most at Christmas is sampling the delightful festive food that is on offer, especially Christmas cake.  Many of you will know that rich fruit cake, compliments many of the whiskies I make, so I set about finding out how to create the perfect Christmas cake. 

Now I’m first to admit that I’m not a brilliant baker so in my mind there was only one woman for this job and that was Bernadette from our I.T department.  She makes the most wonderful cakes and if I’m honest I find myself ‘breaking’ my computer quite a bit so that I have an excuse to pop along to the I.T department to see what goodies are on offer.

Bernadette agreed to share her top secret recipe with me and I’ve posted the details below.  She asked me to remind you all that you need to make your cake now to give it time to rest and also to allow you time to add a little extra bit of Whyte & Mackay into it!

Hope you all enjoy it.

Bernie’s Christmas Cake

Ingredients

    •    350g SR Flour – you can use plain flour to give a denser cake but I prefer Self Raising
    •    2 teaspoon of mixed spice
    •    100g ground almonds
    •    4 eggs
    •    75ml milk
    •    75 ml Whyte and Mackay Special
    •    225g butter
    •    225g caster sugar
    •    1kg bag mixed fruit
    •    Small tub glace cherries – halved

Preparation

    •    Preheat oven to 150 Centigrade, 300 Fahrenheit, gas mark 2
    •    Grease and line 23cm round cake tin (or 20.5cm square)
 
Method

    •    Sieve the dry ingredients together into a small bowl
    •    In another bowl or jug beat the eggs with the milk and Whyte and Mackay special
    •    In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg mix and flour mix in four batches alternating between the two
    •    Add the fruit and mix well.
    •    Place into your prepared tin and bake for 3.5 to 4 hours.
    •    Protect the cake whilst baking by fastening a double band of brown paper 2 inches higher than the tin around the outside and cover the top with paper after 2 hours – standing the paper on the paper collar NOT the cake!

How to make the cake extra special

After it has cooked but still warm make up a quantity of whisky syrup and brush over all the cake – especially necessary if you think it has over-baked a little.  Leave to go cold.

You can feed the cake with more Whyte and Mackay Special during this time by unwrapping carefully, make small holes in the top and base of the cake with a cocktail stick or small skewer, then spoon over a few teaspoons of. Whyte and Mackay Special

Whisky Syrup

    •    3 tablespoons of sugar
    •    3 tablespoons of water
    •    3 tablespoons of Whyte and Mackay Special
    •    Place water and sugar in a pan, bring to the boil and boil for 1 minute.  Remove from the heat and add the whisky – use whilst still warm.

Decorating the cake

Decorate the cake with marzipan and royal icing applying the marzipan 1 week before the icing but if you are running short on time you can get away with a day or 2 if you use the white marzipan.

You will need about 500g of marzipan – best to buy the white rather than the yellow.  Reserve 1/3 for the top of the cake and roll out the rest to cover the side.

Warm some apricot jam and brush the cake with it before applying the marzipan – this helps it stick to the cake.

How to make Royal icing

    •    5 egg whites
    •    2 teaspoons glycerine
    •    1kg sieved icing sugar
    •    Lightly beat the egg whites and glycerine together; add half of the icing sugar and mix well. Add the rest of the icing sugar a little at a time.
    •    For a nice and easy finish just spread this onto the cake and using your knife pull into soft peaks.