Classic Christmas cake made easy

Name: Classic Christmas cake made easy | Asda Good Living
Total time: 2 h 55 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 100g Billington’s Dark Muscovado Natural Unrefined Cane Sugar; 100g Billington’s Light Muscovado Natural Unrefined Cane Sugar; 100g Asda Chopped Mixed Nuts; 200g glacé cherries; 200g raisins; 100g Whitworths Crystallised Fiery Ginger; 100g mixed peel; 100g dates, stoned and roughly chopped; 150ml apple juice (or use sherry, rum or brandy, if preferred); 175g unsalted butter; 2tbsp black treacle; FOR THE CAKE MIXTURE; 150g Allinson’s Plain White Flour; 50g Allinson’s Self-raising White Flour; 1tsp mixed spice; 1tsp cinnamon; ½tsp ground ginger; ½tsp ground cloves; ½tsp ground nutmeg; 100g ground almonds; 4 medium eggs, lightly beaten; Icing sugar, to dust (optional); or apricot jam, icing sugar, marzipan and ready-to-roll white icing, to cover (optional); Large star-shaped, or other festive stencil (optional)

Don’t be daunted by the idea of baking a Christmas cake from scratch

By Asda Good Living,2nd November 2020

(1 votes)

Cook: 2 Hours 55 Mins

Serves: 16

Price: 53p per serving

Nutritional Information

Each 119g serving contains

Energy
1683kj
402kcal

20%

Fat
17.3g

Med
25%

Saturates
6.9g

Med
34%

Sugars
33.1g

High
37%

Salt
0.18g

Low
3%

of your reference intake.
Typical energy values per 100g:
1414kj/338kcal

Ingredients

100g Billington’s Dark Muscovado Natural Unrefined Cane Sugar

100g Billington’s Light Muscovado Natural Unrefined Cane Sugar

100g Asda Chopped Mixed Nuts

200g glacé cherries

200g raisins

100g Whitworths Crystallised Fiery Ginger

100g mixed peel

100g dates, stoned and roughly chopped

150ml apple juice (or use sherry, rum or brandy, if preferred)

175g unsalted butter

2tbsp black treacle

FOR THE CAKE MIXTURE

150g Allinson’s Plain White Flour

50g Allinson’s Self-raising White Flour

1tsp mixed spice

1tsp cinnamon

½tsp ground ginger

½tsp ground cloves

½tsp ground nutmeg

100g ground almonds

4 medium eggs, lightly beaten

Icing sugar, to dust (optional); or apricot jam, icing sugar, marzipan and ready-to-roll white icing, to cover (optional)

Large star-shaped, or other festive stencil (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C/130C Fan/Gas 2. Grease a 20cm cake tin, then line with 2 layers of baking paper.

Put all the ingredients for the nut and dried fruit mixture into a large pan. Heat gently, stirring, until the sugars dissolve and the butter has melted. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat, set aside and allow to cool slightly.

Put the plain and self-raising flours, spices and ground almonds into a large bowl. Stir in the beaten eggs, followed by the fruit and nut mixture.

Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spoon.

Bake in the oven for 2 hrs, or until the top is golden and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre (if necessary, cook for a further 10-15 mins).

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely in the tin.

Once cooled, remove the cake from the tin and place onto a large plate or cake stand. Alternatively, wrap in baking paper, followed by a layer of foil, and store in a cool, dry place until ready to serve.

If you are baking your cake in advance, ‘feed’ it once a week with 1tbsp of apple juice or your chosen tipple. Open the tin, unwrap the cake and pierce holes in the top with a skewer to help the liquid infuse. Drizzle over the liquid and give it a moment to soak it in. Rewrap, replace the lid and return to the cool, dry place to store.

If decorating the cake on Christmas Day, simply place a star-shaped or similarly festive stencil in the centre of the top of the cake, dust with icing sugar, then serve. Alternatively, cover with marzipan and icing 1-7 days ahead of serving for a traditional look.