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.
2015-10-31 15.17.53 It should look like this. Then add:

  1. 4 cups plain flour.
  2. 1 tablespoon baking powder
  3. 1 teaspoon salt
  4. 1/2 cup brandy, doesn’t have to be the best grade. VS is fine.
2015-10-31 15.23.21 Add a couple of pounds of candied peel, a cup of raisins and a pound of candied cherries.
2015-10-31 15.27.06 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. 2015-10-31 15.31.43
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: 2015-11-01 07.58.32
2015-11-01 07.59.49 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.
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Author: rharrisonauthor

International man of mystery. Well not really, although I can mangle several languages and even read the occasional hieroglyphic. A computer scientist, an author and one of the very few people who has both an NIH grant and a book contract. A rising author of sweet romantic historical fiction. An ex- booktrope author.