Christmas Cake.

Christmas Cake is one of our family traditions, brought over from the “Old Country.” Well not so old, as we have current connections to England. It’s a solid good Fruitcake. By English standards, we’re too late. Should have set this up a year ago for proper aging.

In any case here’s the recipe:

1. Cream 2/3 cup butter or margerine. Add 2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons molasses. Cream.
2. Add 5 eggs, one at a time. Then turn the mixer up and cream the lot.

It should look like this. Then add: 4 cups plain flour. 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup brandy, doesn’t have to be the best grade. VS is fine.

	Add a couple of pounds of candied peel, a cup of raisins and a pound of candied cherries.
	After mixing, it will be rather stiff. You’ll need to stir it with a spoon. Traditionally everyone in the house should take a turn giving it a stir.
Then put it in a greased springform pan. The beer can is for scale.

Bake at 350F (200C) until done. It might take 1-2 hours or more. I often leave it overnight, after turning the oven off.  It should look like this:
	Poke holes in it, and then “feed it” with about 1/2 cup of brandy. Cover it with foil and store in a cool, dark place to mature. I’ll feed the cake every two weeks or so until Christmas.