A classic pre-war Christmas cake recipe
Want to make a Christmas cake for the first time? Try making this one
There aren't many foods as typical of a British Christmas, as Christmas cake. It's a bit of a love/hate thing for a lot of people, but for me it's one of the things I look forward to the most when Christmas rolls around.
This particular recipe is an old traditional family favourite written down by my great-grandmother in 1935. I do have an even older one from the 1890s lying around which I might post soon.
The biggest difference between this and a modern cake recipe is the prep, which looks very old-fashioned indeed. You can modernise the recipe though, to save a bit of that effort.
If you've never baked a Christmas cake before, why don't you give this recipe a go? If my family is anything to go by, it'll be loved by pretty much everyone (apart from the dried fruit haters!).
My great-grandmother's Christmas cake recipe, for anyone who wants to have a go at making a proper old-fashioned Christmas cake
Ingredients
- 1 lb butter
- 1 lb caster sugar
- 1 lb sultanas
- 1 lb currants
- 1/2 lb raisins
- 1/4 lb almonds (you can use ground almonds if you want!)
- 1/4 candied peel
- 2 oz. crystalised cherries
- 2 oz. preserved or crystalised ginger
- 1 1/2 lbs flour
- 6 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
Instructions
- Blanch the almonds and chop them up into small pieces (if you use ground almonds you don't have to do this!)
- Chop the ginger
- Stone the raisins (you don't have to do this if you use a modern packet of raisins from the supermarket) and put them through a mincer or food processor.
- Sift the flour with the baking powder
- Cream the butter and sugar together
- Drop the eggs in one by one, beating well between each new egg you add
- Take the dry ingredients, mix them together and add them gradually to the creamy mix you've already created, stirring the mixture all the time. If the mixture is too dry, add a little milk for some extra moisture. If it's too moist, add a little more flour. Mix well.
- Get a cake tin and line it with greaseproof paper. You need to use two layers to make sure you get a rich cake. Don't allow the paper to rise more than 1 1/2 inches above the cake tin rim.
- Bake for 5 hours in a slow oven (approx. gas mark 1-2/135-145 degrees C/275-300 degrees F).
- Test the cake by inserting a skewer into the middle. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is done!
Recipe Notes
If you want to, you can add some brandy to the cake. When the cake is cold, pierce the base of the cake and allow some brandy to seep into the cake. This is similar to what's traditionally done with wedding cakes.
Recipe by
My great-grandmother, but likely traditional and passed down from somebody before her
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Comments (2)
My Grandma used to make wondrful Chriatmas Cake. One year the tin she kept it in got damaged after she had iced the cake and but Christmas Tea the icing was so hard TNT wouldn't cut it. Eventually My Dad lifted off the icing and marzipan like the lid of a hat box and we just ate the cake which was perfect.
I'll have to give this a go for a more child friendly version of the christmas cake recipie from my dads side of the family. I'll have to post it when I have a go