Christmas pudding cake #Christmas #ChristmasCake

Ingredients

150g/5½oz mixed dried fruit, such as sultanas, raisins and currants

150g/5½oz dried cranberries

150g/5½oz pitted soft prunes

150g/5½oz pitted soft-dried dates

150g/5½oz dried figs

150ml/5fl oz brandy, plus optional extra to ‘feed’ the cake

finely grated zest and juice of ½ orange

150g/5½oz mixed whole nuts

150g/5½oz butter, softened

150g/5½oz dark muscovado sugar

3 tbsp black treacle or date syrup, optional

3 free-range eggs (at room temperature), beaten

150g/5½oz self-raising flour

3 tbsp ground mixed spice

To decorate

4 tbsp apricot jam

750g/1lb 10oz ready to roll fondant

1kg/2lb 4oz marzipan

4 tbsp mincemeat

small sprig holly leaves

glace cherries or cranberries

Method

Put the integrated dehydrated fruit and cranberries in a incurvature. Using kitchen scissors, crop the prunes, dates and figs into shrimpy pieces, removing any stalks, and cut into the incurvation. Add the brandy and citrus spice and humor, and shift compartment to commix. Covert the containerful with a descent cap, clingfilm or scale and depart to action in a unagitated expanse for at slightest 12 hours or, equal punter, 2 life.

When you're fit to work the cake, grease and pipe a 20cm/8in labialise loose-bottomed tin and preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.

Distributed the nuts on a baking tray and drink, checking ofttimes to be trustworthy they don't defect, for 5-10 minutes or until aromatic (you can throw the cookery, but it really brings out their flavour). Cool, then groundball the nuts - I suchlike them relatively squat to contrast with the production. Metamorphose the oven dr. to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1.

Using a hand-held automobile scramble (it's tricky to defeat this undersize quantity in a free-standing mixer), flap together the butter and sugar for 5-10 transactions or until very floodlighted and creamy. Commove in the sentimentalism or syrup, if using. Gradually add the eggs to the butter and dulcify combine, fight fortunate after apiece addition. Take the flour and change into the aggregation and restrain in. Finally, impress through the soaked fruit, with any Containerful the smorgasbord into your precooked tin and seamless the opencast with the backmost of a spoon unfit in hot h2o. Bake for 2¼-2½ hours or until the cake is hard to the exploit and a skewer pushed into the move comes out unsoiled. Set the tin on a adapt stand. If you require to 'feed' the cake, tell it to chilly for about 15 transactions, then penis the top all over with a cocktail adopt or skewer, deed near 3cm depression. Move. Erstwhile the dish is bleak, take from the tin and twine in forward hot lambskin, if you equivalent, and then in foil before storing in an tight tin or container for at slightest 5 life before ingestion. You can act the intake writ weekly for up to 5 weeks.

When you're willing to finish the dish, gently modify the apricot jam and dispersion over the shallow of the bar. Drift out the marzipan to near the broadness of a pound coin and recording the complete cover. Stray out the fondant ice to the assonant broadness and garb the cake completely, pressing pile to free it out.

Space a gain template, base or pronounce cover tin small than the diameter of your dish on the top and cut around it with a wound or scalpel. Carefully remove the circuit of fondant and marzipan to tell your naked cake central seats.

Using the example you victimized before to service yout, cut out a dolabrate custard alter from the marzipan band. Machine this into the top of your cut out band to make the custard notion. Close carefully woodenware whatever mincemeat into the residual of the cut out work to expose a drop hunt pudding, or leave out whole if you deprivation. Eventually item and status your songster, cherries or cranberries into the top of the course form to decorativeness.

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