Modern Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Christmas Cake:
- 1 cup dried dates, chopped
- 1/3 cup sultanas
- 1/3 cup currants
- 1/2 cup red glacé cherries, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup brandy, plus 2 tablespoons extra
- 1 cup Golden Cloud self-raising flour
- 3/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1 cup almond meal
- 185g unsalted butter, chopped
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed, chopped
- 1 cup slivered almonds, toasted
Cinnamon Buttercream:
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Method
Christmas Cake
- In a bowl, combine dates, sultanas, currants, cherries and brandy. Cover with cling film and set aside for 1 hour.
- Preheat your oven to 160C. Grease and line a round 20cm cake pan with baking paper.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of flour. Sift the remaining flour with allspice into a medium bowl. Stir in the almond meal.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in half the flour mixture until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour.
- Fold the fruit mixture, nuts and reserved flour into the mixture. Spoon into the pan, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted comes out clean – cover with foil if over-browning. Brush with extra brandy. Cool in the pan.
Cinnamon Buttercream
- In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and vanilla together until pale. Combine sifted icing sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. With the motor running, gradually add icing sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Ice cake with cinnamon buttercream. Decorate as desired.