Rich Fruitcake Aka Classic Christmas Cake

You’ll need a 3 inch tall 8 inch round cake tin or a 7 inch square
tin, greased and lined with wax paper or parchment. Important! Tie a
band of brown paper around the outside of the tin for extra
protection. Since the cake cooks so long, we want to keep it from
burning around the edges and being raw in the center.

You need to begin this cake the night before you want to bake it. All
you do is weigh out the dried fruit and mixed peel, place it in a
mixing bowl, and mix in the brandy as evenly and thoroughly as
possible. Cover the bowl with a clean tea cloth and leave the fruit
aside to absorb the brandy for 12 hours.

Next day preheat the oven to gas mark 1, 275 degrees F (140 C). Then
measure out all of the reast of the ingredients, ticking them off to
make sure they are all there. The treacle will be easier to measure
if you remove the lid and place the tin in a small pan of barely
simmering water.

Now, begin the cake by sifting the flour, salt and spices into a large
mixing bowl, lifting the sieve high to give the flour a good airing.
Next, in a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar
together until it’s light, pale, and fluffy. Next, beat the eggs in a
separate bowl and add them to the creamed mixture a tablespoon full
at a time; keep the whisk running until all the egg is incoporated.
(Note: an electric whisk is a mixer to us Yanks). If you add the eggs
slowly by degrees like this, the mixture won”t curdle. If it does,
don’t worry, any cake full of such beautiful things can’t fail to
taste good! When all the egg has been added, fold in the flour and
spices, using gentle folding movements and not beating at all (this
is to keep all the precious air in). Now fold in the fruit, peel,
chopped nuts and treacle, and finally the grated lemon and orange
zests.

Next, using a large kitchen spoon, transfer the cake mixture into the
prepared tin, spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon and, if
you don’t intend to ice the cake, lightly drop the whole blanched
almonds in circles or squares all over the surface. Finally, cover
the top of the cake with a double square of greaseproof (wax) paper
with a 50p (about a silver dollar) size hole in the center (this
gives extra protection during the long slow cooking). Bake the cake
on the lowest shelf of the oven for 4 1/2 to 4 3/4 hours. Sometimes
it can take up to 1/2 – 3/4 hour longer than this but in any case
don’t look until 4 hours have passed.

Cool the cake for 30 minutes in the tin, then remove it to a wire
rack to finish cooling. When it”s cold ‘feed’ it by sprinkling
brandy on top if it (if you”d like to do this). Wrap it in double
greaseproof paper secured with an elastic band and either wrap again
in foil or store in an airtight tin. You can now feed it at odd
intervals until you need to ice or eat it.

To ice it, I cover it with 1/2 to 1 pound of marzipan, then use either
rolled fondant icing OR royal icing. (But I”m sick of typing now so

am not going to type THOSE instructions! Anyone who wants them,
please send me mail or something).

Note: an electric whisk is a mixer.