Christmas cake Ingredients

1 cup (250 g) butter
11⁄2 cups (280 g) brown sugar
6 eggs 

2 cups 250 g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
3 cups 375 g) sultanas (golden raisins)
2 cups (300 g) currants
3 cups (375 g) seedless raisins, roughly chopped
2 cups (420 g) glacé (candied) cherries, cut in halves
3⁄4 cup (140 g) mixed candied peel, chopped
3⁄4 cup (80 g) ground almonds
finely grated zest of 1 large orange and 1 large lemon
1⁄3 cup (80 ml) rum, whisky or brandy, for sprinkling over the cake before icing

For the almond paste
41⁄2 cups (455 g) ground almonds
11⁄2 cups (185 g) icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted
11⁄2 cups (345 g) caster (superfine) sugar
8 egg yolks
1 teaspoon almond essence or vanilla essence (extract)
3 tablespoons apricot jam, heated and sieved

For the royal icing
3 cups (375 g) icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted
4 egg whites
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Cake
Preparation time 1 hour
Cooking time 31⁄2–4 hour
Serves 12

How to Cook the Christmas Cake

1 Use a 23-cm cake tin; line the base and side with a double layer of baking (parchment) paper.

2 Preheat oven to 150°C. Place butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat until very light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time; beat well after each addition. (The mixture will curdle a little at this point because of the unusually high proportion of eggs to other ingredients in this recipe. It will come together when the dry ingredients are added.)

3 Fold in the flour. Stir in dried fruit, glacé cherries, chopped peel, ground almonds and zests.

4 Spoon mixture into tin; smooth the top. Bake in the centre of the oven for 31⁄2–4 hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

5 Remove the cake from the oven; leave to cool in tin for 1 hour. Carefully turn cake out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Do not remove the baking paper.

6 Wrap the cold cake, still in the baking paper, in cling wrap and wrap it again in foil. Place the cake in an airtight container and store in a cool, dry, airy cupboard until ready to ice it.

How to Cook the Almond paste

Preparation and application time 1 hour
Drying time 24 hours

1 Mix the ground almonds with the sifted icing sugar and the caster sugar. Add egg yolks and the almond or vanilla essence and mix to form a soft, but not sticky, paste. Smooth by kneading very briefly on a work surface lightly sifted with icing sugar.

2 Remove cake from wrappings and place upside-down in the centre of a 30-cm round gold or silver cake board, or on a cake stand, if preferred.

3 Using a fine skewer, make several holes in the base of the cake; insert the skewer to a depth of about 4 cm. Spoon rum, whisky or brandy over the base of the cake and allow it to gradually seep into the holes.

4 Roll out the almond paste to a neat round about 33-cm in diameter. Turn cake right side up and brush all over with the warm, sieved apricot jam.

5 Carefully lift the paste onto the cake; smooth it evenly over the top and down the side, pressing it gently but flrmly into position. Trim off any excess paste from the base. Smooth paste with a palette knife.

6 Leave cake, uncovered, in a cool, dry place for 24 hours to allow the paste to dry completely before adding the icing.

Royal icing
Preparation and icing time 1 hour
Drying time 24 hours

1 Place sifted icing sugar and the egg whites in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth and fluffy; beat in the lemon juice.

2 Spoon 3 tbsp of icing mixture onto the cake; spread evenly over the top only. Using a metal ruler, smooth the icing by pulling the ruler across the top of the cake. Trim away any excess icing. Leave overnight to dry.

3 Put remaining icing in a clean bowl, cover the surface closely with cling wrap and refrigerate. Next day, beat the icing and coat the top of the cake again; smooth icing as before.

4 Spread remaining icing around the side of the cake; let a little come up onto the top (see picture). Use a palette knife to work icing up into attractive peaks and swirls.

5 Leave icing to dry overnight. Decorate with your choice of Christmas ornaments.