English Christmas cakes are very popular here in Germany among my friends and family. This year I decided to try out a recipe published in this month’s BBC Good Food Magazine (P. 148) called Bubble and Bake Christmas Cake. It was written by Sara Buenfeld who I am very grateful to because I managed to supply friends and family with lots of Christmas cakes with hardly any effort at all. I made this on the stove top and only used the TMX to grind or chop the almonds. I made a non-alcoholic version for my favourite Turkish greengrocer who is learning English and she was thrilled. I hope you like the recipe too. Merry Christmas!
Add the following ingredients to a heavy bottomed saucepan:
200g dark muscovado sugar, 175g butter (chopped), 700g luxury mixed dry fruit (I used organic where possible), 50g glace cherries (I used candied orange and lemon peel), 2 tsp grated fresh ginger, zest and juice of one orange, 100ml dark rum, brandy or orange juice.
Bring to the boil slowly and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Stir frequently, otherwise the mixture will catch. Leave to stand for 30 minutes to cool.
Then add:
85g pecan nuts (roughly chopped – I used almonds), 3 large eggs (beaten), 85g ground almonds, 200g plain flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp mixed spice and 1 tsp cinnamon.
Stir everything together gently but thoroughly.
Grease and line a deep 20cm round baking tin and spoon in cake mix. Level the top with a spoon. Bake in preheated oven 150C/130C fan assisted for 45 minutes. Then turn down temperature to 140C/120C fan assisted for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until done. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
You can then decorate the cake as you wish.
Tips: If you have an oven thermometer it’s a good idea to use it for this recipe. I used mine and found that the longer baking time was just right. The great thing about this recipe is that the cake doesn’t become dark/burnt, instead it is a beautiful caramel colour when it comes out of the oven.
If you also live in Germany and would like to bake this cake, you’ll probably experience difficulties finding a 20cm round cake tin since most German cake tins are 24-26 cm. Luckily, TK-Maxx has been sprouting out of the ground like mushrooms in North-Rhine Westphalia and this store often has British size cake tins at a very reasonable price.
