Holiday Recipe Round Up - because some need to be made early, some need practice and some could be for Thanksgiving too!

Making a traditional Christmas Fruit Cake is quite the undertaking - you have to round up all those lovely ingredients, which could include making your own candied/glaceed citrus peel then you have to bake it nice and early - like right now - and store it in a nice tight cake tin to develop it's lovely favours then a few days before the day itself you need to cover it in marzipan and ice it with Royal Icing - so thus the post at this time of the year. Click on the name below to go to the recipe in my blog archives:

IRISH CHRISTMAS CAKE - CISTE NOLLAG

Here's a recipe for one you could bake much closer to Christmas if you don't have time to do it now:

LAST MINUTE GOLDEN CRIMBLY CAKE

...and then there's the Christmas Pudding - which should traditionally be made on Stir-Up Sunday - this year it falls on November 22nd - again this is a recipe that really improves with aging.

The hearty ingredients for a very traditional Christmas Pudding

CHRISTMAS PUDDING OR PLUM PUDDING?

My personal favourite:

NEW ENGLAND CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Full of wonderful New England ingredients like cranberries and pumpkin and with a good dash of tea soaked raisins - yum!!!

 An unusual pudding:

STEAMED APRICOT HOLIDAY PUDDING 

This could become a Thanksgiving holiday tradition?

Here's is a play on Christmas Puddings and is a quick and easy make for anytime over the holiday season:

MINI CHRISTMAS PUDDING DRIED FRUIT BALLS

 This little delight might need some practice to make perfect but is always an impressive site when brought ceremonially to the after dinner table:

YULE LOG or BUCHE de NOEL

 And last but certainly not least the wonderful anytime of the year but especially on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve - a luscious confection of jelly (I made mine vegetarian) English custard, homemade Ladyfingers and lashings of whipped cream:

 CHERRY AND GINGER TRIFLE

'Tis the season to enjoy baking and cooking and cosy toes cups of tea by the fire - so please have fun!!

PATRICIA SHEA DESIGNS

Last minute Golden Crimbly Cake...

Ta dah...my last minute Christmas Cake...isn't she pretty!!

Most Christmas (Crimbly as one would say colloquially in Blighty) are made months ahead and are well treated and ‘fed’ the occasional spot of whiskey or brandy…this little delight is made only a couple of days before…or today, Christmas Eve, or even tomorrow Christmas Day…the smell would be delightful coming from your toasty little oven.

Here is the recipe adapted from a Saveur article a few years ago about Truman Capote's short story called “A Christmas Memory” a delightful read for when you have a mo and a nice hot cup of tea. This cake is almost a combination of steamed pudding and regular fruit cake…very moist and heavy with fruits…YUM. The quality of the cake will depend almost solely on the quality of your dried fruits so try to find really nice plump ones, maybe at your local health food store or food co-op.

Assembling the ingredients

INGREDIENTS:

A goodly combination of dried fruits adding up to 2 1/4 cups/about 1lb …I used cherries, pineapple with low sugar (has more pineapple flavour) candied citron…YES I found this at the Belfast Coop, never had candied citron before but it is very nice...subtle, not so lemony and quite floral…(you could easily substitute candied lemon and orange peel), sultanas/white raisins and crystallized ginger but your favourite combination will do.

½ cup very strong, hot tea…or an alcohol of your choice, the recipe called for Grand Marnier, I prefer tea as that is more traditional for an English Christmas Cake.

¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice…about 1 good sized lemon.

To start the ball rolling put all the dried fruits together and toss in the tea and lemon juice and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours at room temperature to allow the fruits to plump and infuse.

Multiple Other ingredients:

¾ cup/4oz broken nutmeats…I used pecans

½ cup/2oz unbleached white flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon garam masala…a lovely Indian spice with a little kick…if don’t have this or don’t want to try it please use cinnamon and mace

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup/1oz white breadcrumbs

2 eggs whisked and at room temperature

½ cup/4oz (weight not volume) sour cream

½ cup/4oz sugar

1 stick/4oz butter at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract

1 teaspoons grated lemon zest

And so we begin: Pre heat oven to 350F

1. Toast nutmeats in a low oven for a couple of minutes until fragrant.. be careful not to burn…they go very quickly when they go, leave to cool completely before you use them.
2. Generously grease and flour a 6 1/2” (mine is 3” deep) diameter baking pan, 4 cup capacity, and cut a circle of parchment/greased proof paper to put in the bottom of the pan to help you extricate the cake at the end.
3. Sift flour, salt and spices together and put in a bowl with the breadcrumbs…stir together.
4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Gradually beat the eggs into butter and sugar mix, dribble by dribble until all incorporated.
6. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.
7. Fold in dry ingredients in two batches plus lemon zest.
8. Fold in fruit and liquid mix until well blended, I actually found my mixture looked somewhat curdled because of the amount of liquid ingredients but don’t worry…it will all come together in the baking.
9. Spoon into chosen baking receptacle cover with another round of parchment/greased proof paper and pop into your pre heated oven for about 1 hour and 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the very depths of the cake comes out clean…I didn’t cook mine quite long enough…I took it out at 1 ½ hours so I have added an extra 15 minutes for yours.

10. Leave in baking pan for about ½ hour before unmolding.

11. Cool before eating with a nice strong cup of tea or an adult beverage of your choice.

Before she goes into the oven...bad photo sorry!!

The inside of the cake...looking a little squishy in the middle so make sure yours is cooked all the way through.

Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy Baking!!!

Irish Christmas Cake - Ciste Nollag

And so the Christmas Cake odyssey begins...the ingredients are gathered in one place and now they must be strategically arranged and manipulated into a faboo Crimbly Cake the likes of which you have never seen, especially so if you have only ever encountered those doorstops with bright red dye #5 glace cherries, never mind the green ones...but we digress....

Lucie says "This is hard work, don't let anyone fool you, making a Christmas Cake is a feat of strength no one should underestimate!!

Christmas Cake - Ciste Nollag from “Irish Traditional Food” by Theodora FitzGibbon

This ideally should be made at least one month in advance in order for the flavours to marry and meld and let the cake mature in it’s little, actually not so little if you make the full recipe...I only made half the recipe for each cake you see pictured here!!... air tight tin. Many people in the UK use this also as their wedding cake...we are more inclined to fruit cakes in Blighty than our cousins in the US!!

This is a family recipe dating from 1860, it is a very rich and toothy fruitcake

Firstly assemble the following ingredients the night before you are baking the cake:
 
8oz raisins
 
8oz sultanas or white raisins
 
4oz currants
 
2oz dried tart cherries
 
3oz chopped candied peel (I made mine from scratch because the flavour is so much better...but you can purchase this if you want to skip that arduous step!!)

2oz chopped, dried apricots
 
2 oz chopped walnuts

Lucie and I proceeded with the dried fruit in two different ways. I mixed all the above ingredients together in a big glass bowl and then covered this mound of dried delights with a combination of strong brewed black tea and apple cider, you can use either or, or both together as I did, totaling about 3 cups (UK 24 fl ozs) of liquid and allow the fruit to soak up the liquids....you will be surprised at how much the fruit expands, I know I was. Lucie on the other hand mixed all her fruit together, put it in a baking tin, covered it with foil and placed it in a very low oven for a few hours until it expanded and was somewhat sticky. Leave the fruit to soak overnight or cool down after the warming according to which way you went.....of course the soaking makes the cake much moister and, we found out, MUCH larger!!!

BAKING DAY!!!
3oz soft brown sugar
 
3oz white sugar
 
6oz butter room temperature

3 large, room temp. eggs whisked together

8oz sifted all purpose white flour
 
2oz ground almonds
 
½ teaspoon mixed spice/allspice
 
½ rounded teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
 
½ teaspoon salt
 
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
 
grated rind and juice of 1 orange
 
2 tablespoons whiskey, rum or brandy (optional)

Prepare the cake tin: Because I did half the recipe BUT soaked the fruit I used a 10" shallow cake pan and Lucie used a 6" tall cake pan, remember mine turned out a lot larger because of the fruit soaking episode!! Anyways...choose your tin, grease liberally with butter and then line the bottom and sides with cut-to-size parchment, then grease the parchment and reline with another set of cut-to-size parchment.....lining the tins really helps cut down on the possibility of the cakes burning on the outside...also cut a piece of parchment and grease to put on the top of the cake as it bakes. Those little dahlingks are in the oven for quite some time.

Heat the oven to 350F
1. Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.

2. Add the whisked eggs bit by bit beating well between each addition...there’s a good likelihood the mix will curdle near the final additions...do not worry about this the flour and other ingredients will help rectify this situation!

3. FOLD in sifted flour, spices, ground almonds, fruit juices, zests and salt until well blended but don’t work it too hard, beat it or mix too long as it will, indeed, make the cake hard!!

4. Add the prepared fruits and walnuts gradually, and the alcohol if you choose to add it, of course I made mine with Irish whiskey!!...this starts to get to be hard work but it is good for you...and remember the harder you work, the more calories you burn, the more cake you can eat!!!

5. Put the cake mix into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a wet spatula then loosely cover with the greased parchment round.

6. Set cake on middle rack in the oven.

7. After half an hour reduce the heat to 275 and cook for 1 1/2 hours

8. Now start checking the cake about every 20 minutes for doneness...a skewer inserted should come out clean and the cake should smell great and look baked.....if you need the top to brown more take off the parchment on top, if you think the cake is browning too much lower the heat...this is a very undefinable process but if you are used to making cakes you’ll have the feel for when the cake is done...it should be browned nicely and the skewer should be clean, although if you pass through a wet raisin that may fool you into thinking it isn’t done so check in a couple of places.

My cake took a total of about 3 hours but yours could well be longer or shorter than that.

When the cake is ready remove from the oven, leave in the baking tin and pour over 2 more tablespoons of the assigned alcohol. Take out of the tin after about 30 minutes and then allow to cool on a rack until completely COLD!!!...you cannot put it into the tin unless it has no heat in it at all or the cake will get clammy and yucky.

9. Wrap in parchment paper before secreting it into it’s safe and happy airtight tin...this is a must to keep the cake from molding, also keep the tin in a cool, dark place.

About a week before Christmas we will be covering our Crimbly cakes with marzipan and Royal icing...so wait with bated breath for that post!!!

Off you pop now and bake your cake!!

My cake has already started to darken as it ages and smells just divine!!Here are the cakes before they enter the confines of the warm and toasty oven...

...and here they are after they have cooled and are ready to be loaded into their cozy tins.

James and I drove to Lewiston yesterday and here is a photo of the weather conditions on the way back...it's snowing, it's November...what is going on!!!...well it is Maine I suppose and it does seem appropriate that the ground should be covered with snow today as I post my Christmas Cake recipe.

I like snow!! I am sitting by the wood stove...Harry the kitten is on the chair behind me, Freddie the Bassett is on a big pillow by the fire, Bunny the Beagle is on her settle and Eleanor the Mutt (half Beagle/half French Bulldog!) is lounging blissfully by the fire after getting too hot being underneath the stove for a while!!
Above here is my new design for the Greetings Card Store and it will be up on the Cafe Press store hopefully later today!!