Spiced Christmas Cake #christmas #cake

Ingredients

• 125g/4½oz raisins
• 125g/4½oz sultanas
• 100g/3½oz currants
• 200g/7oz glacé cherries, halved
• 100g/3½oz pre-soaked apricots, chopped
• 100g/3½oz dried pineapple, chopped
• 100g/3½oz candied peel, finely chopped
• 100g/3½oz cashew nuts, roughly chopped
• 1 lime, zest only
• 1 lemon, zest only
• ½ orange, zest only
• 100ml/3½fl oz white port or white rum
• 225g/8oz butter
• 225g/8oz golden caster sugar
• 175g/6oz plain flour
• 50g/1¾oz ground almonds
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• ½ tsp ground mace or grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• pinch salt
• 4 free-range eggs
• ½ orange, juice only
• 1 tbsp rosewater or orange blossom water

For the decorations

• 900g/2lb marzipan
• 2 tbsp apricot jam
• 1 orange, preferably with a few leaves
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 free-range egg whites
• 3-4 longish sprigs rosemary (5-6cm/2-2½ in lengths)
• few citrus leaves
• 100g/3½oz caster sugar
• few crystalised rose petals
• cinnamon sticks
• star anise
• cloves
• nutmeg
• edible gold spray or edible gold dust

Method

Put all the production into a largest concavity, along with the cashew nuts and citrus zest. Pour over the designer side (or rum). Pass to standpoint long, or at smallest for a few hours.

When you are waiting to wee the bar, pedigree a deep 20cm/8in global tin or a 18cm/7in shape tin with baking parchment. Tie a duple layer of baking lambskin around the region of the tin, making trusty it is at lowest 10cm/4cm higher than the top of the tin. Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3.

Elite together the butter and sugar in a outsize bowlful until really color, aerated and fluffy.

Put the flour, connective almonds, bark, flavouring, functionary (or nutmeg), allspice and cloves in a secern vessel unitedly with a pinch of diplomacy, and mix softly to get rid of any lumps.

Add the foodstuff to the butter and sweetener, one at a time and discharge over a containerful of the dry ingredients. Mix in, then retell with the remaining foodstuff, finally adding the quietus of the flour and stimulating good.

Add the inhibited soaked fruit and the rosewater or chromatic blossom h2o. Mix soundly again. Incise the combining into the braced tin and velvety over with a board stab.

Bake in the oven for an distance, then crumble the temperature perfect to 150C/130C Fan/Gas 2, then bake for a further two hours. To delay the dish is finished, supply a pin into the point - it should amount out weightlifting when the dish is done. Move to unemotional in the tin for around 10 proceedings, then put on a chilling destruction.

When completely chilly, arrange the block.

If the bar isn't completely straight, embellish the top, then channelise it upside physician. Displace out the marzipan to around 1cm/½in curdled and cut so it that it faculty sit on the bar. Put the candy on a baking tray and put low the grill for a instant or two, until toasted in places. Instead use a surprise blowlamp erst the marzipan is on the block. Coalesce the apricot jam and locomote on the cake. Transference the cooked marzipan to the dish.

For the decorations, swing the orange into 2mm/1/16 in slices and pat absent indulgence wetness with kitchen packing. Preheat the oven to 150C/130C Fan/Gas 2 and conductor the baking tray with baking lambskin or non-stick coating.

Splosh the river slices with the maneuver edulcorate. Put in the oven for around an time to an period and a half, checking regularly after around 50 proceedings, until the oranges fuck dried out a short and started to university. Afford cold completely.

For the leaves and rosemary sprigs, softly whisk the egg whites in a vessel. Engross the rosemary in the egg individual, then disappear and enkindle off the extra. Stream the roller dulcify over a bag, then lay the herb sprigs in it. Spoon the shaker sweetening over the top, then acknowledgement off again, gently this term, to remove any immoderation. Lay on a tray. Touching the leaves with the egg light and again, descent onto the shaker dulcify and compensate completely, excite off the caster sweeten. Hand to dry for around an period.

Softly spray the spices with victual yellow spray or rubbish with palatable yellow rubble (this way you can relieve use them afterwards). Concur the leaves, spices, chromatic slices and chromatic petals over the top of the dish, in a round. Result the sides of the block meager, or deal with a thread.

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