Traditional Irish Christmas Cake

Step 1

Roughly chop the sultanas, raisins and currants. Finely chop the candied peel. Halve the glacé cherries if they are whole. Don't chop them. Place all these dry fruits along with the rest of the ingredients mentioned under For the fruit Mix (To be soaked overnight) in a big bowl, mix well and cover with cling wrap.

Step 2

You will need an 8" square or a 9" round pan with tall, straight sides, preferably a spring form pan. Make sure that the pan does not have handles/flat on the sides (like the one's by Prestige brand). This is because you will need to cover the sides of the baking tin with baking paper to prevent the cake from burning.

Step 3

Grease and line the base of the baking tin with baking parchment. Next, grease and line the sides of the pan with baking parchment that extends a little over the sides (the sides of the paper should be higher than the sides of the tin - this is because your cake will rise much above the depth of the cake so you don't want it to spill over or form a muffin top).

Step 4

Take two long sheets of baking paper and fold them in half, horizontally and cover the tin on the outside and fasten it with a string (I managed this with stapler pins - but make sure the pins don't come lose and fall into your batter!). Your cake tin will be invisible by now. Basically you are securing the tin in such a way as if a crown or a chef's hat has been placed around it.

Step 5

Cut an extra round or square piece of baking parchment and cut a cross mark in the centre. This sheet will be placed right on top of your tin to protect the batter from browning too fast.

Step 6

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C (or 140 C if you are using a fan oven).

Step 7

Sift the flour and the salt together into a bowl. Stir in the almond powder and set aside

Step 8

In a large bowl beat the butter and the sugar until the mixture looks pale. Add the eggs one by one beating between each addition. If the mixture looks like it is curdling then just add a tablespoon or two of flour.

Step 9

When all the eggs have been beaten, add the flour in parts and fold it into the mixture using a spatula.

Step 10

Now mix the soaked fruits in parts, folding to incorporate. Any remaining liquid of the fruits needs to be added as well.

Step 11

The batter will be quite stiff - transfer it into the prepared tin and level off on all sides using a spoon. Smoothen it in such a way that the sides are slightly higher than the centre (this is because the centre will rise anyway and we don't want much of a dome shaped cake here)

Step 12

Cover the top of the tin with the extra round/square sheet of baking parchment and bake for approximately 2-1/2 to 3 hours. The baking time may vary depending on the type/size of your oven. The original recipe called for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours but I kept an eye on the cake after 1 hour 15 mins and checked it every 20 mins thereafter. When the skewer inserted inside comes out clean the cake is done.

Step 13

Remove and leave the cake to cool overnight in its tin on a wire rack. Next day, remove from the tin and peel off the parchment

Step 14

If you wish to feed the cake in the runup to Christmas, then place the cake upside down and poke 5-6 deep holes using a wooden skewer. Pour 1/2 teaspoon of whiskey into each of the holes.

Step 15

Cover the cake well with parchment paper or cling film/saran wrap and place in an airtight box

Step 16

Repeat the process every 10 days for at least 4 weeks for best results (feeding to be done only once in 10 days and not daily!)

Step 17

When you are ready to serve, ice the cake with marzipan (recipe to follow) and serve!