Christmas Cake

Hiii everyone.  So I'm going to do something a little bit different today and write a recipe post!  I make a Christmas cake every year from an old family recipe, so I wanted to do a post this year and share how I do it with you all.  It's important to note that there are lots of different ways/tips/tweaks when making Christmas cake, but this is just the way I have learnt to do it.  This is the first year I've ever attempted to ice it though, as usually I never bother and we just scoff it without icing or marzipan (lazy really, lol).  Depending on how the icing goes, I might update this post in a couple of weeks with my technique, once I've had chance to feed the cake with alcohol.

Ingredients

1 ½ lbs Currants
(½ lb) Sultanas
4oz Mixed Peel
4oz Cherries (washed and chopped)

12oz Butter
12oz Soft Brown Sugar
4oz Treacle
6 Eggs
1lb Self Raising Flour
4oz Ground Almonds
1 tsp Mixed Spice
Small amount of Milk
Small amount of Brandy

8" Baking Tin
Greaseproof Paper / Baking Parchment

Step One - Soaking the fruit (the night before I plan to make the cake)

Add the fruit to a large bowl (preferably one with a lid) and add a couple of tablespoons of brandy and mix.
Cover and leave to soak overnight.

Step Two - Making the Cake

Cream the butter, sugar and treacle using the classic creaming method...

Add the eggs a little at a time.
Add a small amount of milk, flour, ground almonds and mixed spice...

Fold in the fruit...

Every year I tell myself I need a bigger bowl, then always forget.  Haha.

Step Three - Cooking

Grease the bottom and sides of the baking tin.
Take some greaseproof/baking paper, draw around the bottom of your baking tin and cut out.
Double up the paper and line around the edge of the tin.
I like to put some extra paper around the outside and tie with string just to protect the outside of the cake a little bit more.  I think it's better to do this with thick brown paper but I didn't have any, lol.
Cut out some more paper and loosely cover the top...

Bake in a cool oven for 4½ - 5 hours.
Allow to cool and remove from tin...

VOILA!

I'm glad I took it out when I did, as any longer and I think the top would have been cremated, lol.  I always struggle to find that happy medium.  Apart from the top being a tiny bit well done, I'm really pleased with it!   The best thing to do now is wrap in foil and keep in a tin of some sort, and keep "feeding" the cake with brandy for a few weeks. That gives me time to plan my icing tekkers.  I might actually slice a tiny crusty layer off the top so that the icing it neater. Hmm?

How do you make Christmas cake?
What's your icing technique? I'd love to know!