Step 2: Mrs Christmas' Cake

So here is where you get your bake on! Take your lovely macerated boozy fruit. Personally I think you need to soak it at least for a week, but I much prefer months and for 2012 I started on my birthday in October.

I usually make a couple of 8inch round cake but the quantities below will make a 8inch round or 7inch square or 2 x 6inch rounds.

I usually weigh the fruit after I have soaked it, but that's because I tend to grab the packets and go from there.

Here's the precise ingredients for you.
Soaked dried fruit:
300g sultanas
200g raisins
150g chopped dried prunes
150g chopped dried apricots
50g glacé cherries
50g dried cranberries

225g plain flour
225g soft butter (salted is fine)
225g soft brown sugar
1/4tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2tsp ground mixed spice
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
4 medium eggs
50g blanched almonds
50g roughly chopped Brazil nuts
Grated zest and juice of an lemon
Grated zest and juice of an orange

Couple of Tablespoons of brandy or rum or sherry - basically whatever tipple you fancy! (obviously not a creamy liqueur like baileys)


First things first preheat oven to 140c - its worth noting if using a fan over you can reduce the cooking time by about 25 minutes. But keep an eye on it and the skewer test will tell you when the cakes ready.

Line your cake tin really well with baking parchment or grease proof paper. A habit of Mum's which I carry on in her place -  I also tie brown paper around the outside of the tin once I have placed the raw mixture into the tin. this helps stop the cake browning too quickly and catching on the edges before the middles cooked through.

First of all beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.I use my Kitchenaid for this but an electric hand whisk is fine and also good old fashioned elbow grease too. Then beat in one egg at a time to the buttery mixture, making sure all the eggs been thoroughly mixed in before adding the next egg. if the mixture starts to curdle have no fear the addition of a little flour from flour allowance will bring it back. After all the eggs are incorporated sift the flour and spices together into the batter and fold it in well. Now fold in the fruit, nuts, zest and a table spoon of the juice or the lemon and orange. All the fruit should be well incorporated and covered by the yummy batter.

Place the cake mix into the lined tin and spread out evenly with a little dip in the middle - this means as the cake cooks you'll get a nice level surface.

Bake your cake in the bottom of the oven for 4 hours and 30 minutes. Check the cake after two hours and cover the top with a square of grease proof paper so the cake won't brown too quickly. Check the cake at 4 hours and do the skewer test in the centre if it comes out clean the cakes ready of not leave for another 30 minutes and test again. The cake may need a little bit longer but keep an eye on it and as soon as the skewer is clean its ready.

Cool the cake in its tin for half an hour and then turn the cake out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Wrap well in grease proof paper and tin foil and store in an air tight container until your ready to ice the cake.

I've also been known to cool the cake in the tin because usually its the early hours of the morning and I just want to go to bed.

Now the cake is cooled lightly prick the cake all over with a cocktail stick and gently feed the cake with a few spoonfuls of your chosen spirit. Again you aren't looking to saturate the cake and to be honest I don't do this - mainly because my fruits been soaked for so long it couldn't dry out in a rehab clinic! 

Step 1: Mrs Christmas' Cake

Part of the Hutt/Miles' family tradition run up to Christmas, is to make a lovely fruity, rich Christmas Cake. Nanny had her own recipe as did Mum and I also have my own little twist on things too. Mum preferred to use ground almonds in her fruit cake, whilst I prefer whole nuts, almonds and Brazil nuts beings my favourite. I'm not a fan of candid peel so I tend to use only a very little. But I do love chopped apricots, prunes, dried blueberries and cranberries and whatever else you fancy to be honest. I don't use currants but prefer the plumper raisin and sultanas. So if you have a preference use what you wish but just make sure the overall quantity of dried fruit equals 900g.

The first ritual for me is to macerate the fruit in the contents of my booze cupboard. I like to start early and have been known to gather the dregs of dried fruit from the back of the cupboard and bathe them in booze as early as July. In fact I soaked the fruit for my wedding cake for nearly a year.

So down to the soaking nitty gritty. Mum preferred French brandy, Nanny like sherry brandy and I like to use dark rum, brandy, sherry and a slosh of whiskey, just to make sure nobody feels left out. The quantities are entirely up to you and dependant on how long your going to soak the fruit, because they're thirsty little berries, but too few days means less booze otherwise the cake will be too wet.

Place in a nice large bowl your dried fruit:
300g sultanas
200g raisins
150g chopped prunes
150g chopped dried apricots
50g glacé cherries - Mum used to chop hers but I prefer to leave mine whole and I don't get sticky fingers that way.
50g dried cranberries
A slosh of Whiskey
A gurgle of Dark rum
A glug of French brandy
And a Nanny's measure of Sweet sherry (traditionally Harvey's Bristol Cream)

Mix this all well and cover the bowl tightly with cling film. And leave to soak. I like to give the fruit a stir once a week and see if it needs any more booze and add as necessary. This is your baby and it will happily sit on your kitchen Worktop until your ready.

Step 2 is all about getting your bake on and filling the house with the most incredible Christmas aroma.

Italian meringue buttercream

I've just finished icing the cupcakes for tomorrow now all I have to do is decorate them and pack them off to be collected tomorrow by my friend Sarah. I've made a pink Italian meringue buttercream and a chocolate buttercream icing to pipe on the top. Here's a little photo of my handiwork.

I much prefer the Italian meringue buttercream which is light and fluffy and not overly cloying in the sweet stakes. Made using a hot sugar syrup, egg whites and butter it's a little tricky but once you get the hang of the precision it's easy as cake!

Lotte's Curried Sausage Rolls

I love sausage rolls and more importantly I love Lotte Duncan! She's a kitchen inspiration and what a fantastic cook. I've been lucky enough to go on a few cookery demonstrations at her beautiful cottage and now she has opened up a lovely little cafe Lotte's Kitchen in Chinnor everyone gets to share her delightful cooking. http://www.lotteskitchen.com/

One of my most favourite recipes of hers is the now infamous curried sausage roll and I have been making these as a regular buffet treat on and off since she first served them too me! They are AMAZING! in fact they are beyond wonderful! So I couldn't write a blog, especially with Christmas on my mind, without including her curried sausage rolls. Lotte makes them using pork sausage meat, but as I am now married to my darling husband, who doesn't eat pork. I have experimented with lamb, chicken and turkey mince all to great success!

500g minced lamb (or minced chicken thighs or turkey breast)
1 large onions diced
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1tsp dried thyme
1tsp ground turmeric
1tsp ground cumin
1/2tsp ground coriander
1/2tsp ground fenugreek
1tsp chilli flakes
Salt & peper to season
Glass of good red wine
A little oil for frying.
Lightly beaten egg
Pack of puff pastry

Soften the onion and garlic in a frying pan with a little oil until soft and translucent. add the spices and thyme and stir well to incorporate and fry for 1 minute to toast the spices really well. Then add the glass of red wine and stir well and leave to reduce until all the wine has been absorbed into the oniony spice mixture. Set to one side and leave to cool completely. I have made this the day before and kept it in the fridge in an air tight container.

Right next get the minced meat of your choice out of the fridge and let it come back to room temperature. You can do this when you're making the spiced onion mix. I'm using lamb in this instance. Break it up a little and then add the cooled onion. Mix really well incorporating all the lovely flavours into the meat. I do this by hand, but be warned you will get turmeric fingers.

Roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle. Cut in half lengthways. On one half of the pastry spoon the mixture into a sausage shape in the middle of the pastry all the way along. Brush with beaten egg on both sides and roll so the meats totally encased in pastry as you would make any sausage roll. Making sure the seam is faced down cut into sausage rolls - bite sized or bigger I usually work on approx an inch and a half, place on a lined baking sheet and brush with egg wash and repeat with the second rectangle of pastry. Place in a hot oven for 25-30 mins at 200c until golden and crisp. They're maybe oozing but only a little. You can stop this by sniping them with scissor rather than cutting with a knife so its up to you.

Eat and enjoy hot or cold! They freeze really well too if you pop them in the freezer before the baking stage.

Vegetarian Curried Sausage Rolls

I love sausage rolls but I also have vegetarian friends who I love to cook for and would hate to leave out so I found this recipe www.australianfood.about.com and had to try is out. Its lovely and very similar to a samosa filling but in luscious puff pastry.

Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed.
1 tsp of sea salt
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp mild curry powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1 cup of peasHandful of finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp of vegetable oil
Packet of puff pastry
1 egg lightly beaten for brushing

Boil the potatoes until cooked. Drain and mash with the salt and put to one side.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and sweat the onion until softened but not coloured. Add the spices and fry for one minute to toast them.Next add the peas to the pan and fry on for a couple minutes then add the chopped parsley and mashed potato and mix well. Fry for another minute and then remove from stove to cool.
Pre-heat oven to 200c. Roll out puff pastry into a nice big rectangle and then cut into two lengthways. Spoon 3-4 tablespoonfuls of the cooled potato mixture into the centre of a pastry making a nice potato sausage down the middle. Egg wash either side of the potato mixture and then fold over the puff pastry to meet on the other side to form your large sausage roll. Flip over so the sealed edge is faced down and brush with egg wash. Cut into sausage rolls, big or bite sized and then score lightly the top of the sausage rolls with a knife to make it look pretty. Repeat with the other half of the pastry and pop them on a lined baking sheet in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown!

Really lovely for picnics or Christmas! Make a big one and serve with a nice big salad for a tasty lunch.

Nigella's Christmas jewelled mincemeat

I love Christmas and its not just for the presents either! in fact its more about my families traditions in the kitchen. Nanny making the Christmas pudding and steaming it for 8 hours on stir up Sunday. Mum and I planning the menu and shopping list, ordering the goose and buying every Christmas food related magazine we can get our hands on in November to get ideas, as well as dusting off the old magazines we've saved over the years and always returned too. This recipe is from Nigella's Christmas book and is a vegetarian friendly mincemeat which leaves out the suet and uses fresh cranberries and port! It has a lighter taste to traditional mincemeat and is totally delicious and one I highly recommend as its easy and fast! But have no fear I also make Lotte's Boozy Mincemeat as well because, well because why not its Christmas!

Ingredients
75g soft dark brown sugar
60ml any port you have in the cupboard - I have also used sherry with great success.
300g fresh cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves - I didn't have ground cloves so I popped a 4 whole cloves in and then fished them out at the end
75g currants
75g raisins
30g dried cranberries
1 Clementine, zest and juice only
25ml brandy
A few drops almond extract
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp honey

In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat.
Add the cranberries and stir. Add the spices, dried fruit and the fresh cranberries and the zest and juice of the Clementine.Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has broken down and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. (You may need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them fully.)
Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little. Then stir in the brandy, almond extract, vanilla extract and honey and stir well with a wooden spoon to mash the mixture down into a paste.
Spoon the mincemeat into sterilised jars and, once cool, store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

I have also used frozen cranberries and swapped the raisins and currants for sultana's as that's all I had in the cupboard. Do add the almond extract its really worth it!

I like to make mince pies with sweet or plain short crust pastry from Sainsburys and line the little bun tins with the pastry top with a teaspoon of the mincemeat and for the lid a little disc of marzipan and bake for 20-25 mins in a hot oven until the pastry is cooked through and lightly golden. Serve warm with lots of thick double cream! hmmmmmmm I want these right now!

Chocolate Whoopie pies

A fast American favourite sweet cakey delight. Whoopies are like a flattened cupcake, which are baked on a baking sheet like cookies and are free formed so you match the rounds together with a tasty filling of your choice.

They became a big thing in the UK about 5 years ago but never got truly embraced and its a real shame because they are so easy to bake, even the most novice cook can master these in a flourish. This recipe is from one of my many cook books titled Whoopie pies by Sarah Billingsley & Amy Treadwell.

1 2/3 cups self raising flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4tbsp butter
4tbsp vegetable shortening like crisco
1 cup soft brown sugar
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Heat the oven to 180c.

In a large bowl or electric mixer bowl beat the butter, crisco and sugar together until fluffy. Takes about 3 minutes. Then add the egg and vanilla extract and beat in well until all combined. Sift in flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder and mix on a low speed, scraping down the sides and add the milk. Mix thoroughly.

Then using a dessert spoon drop the mixture onto the lined baking sheets spacing then at least 2 inches apart as they will spread. Repeat until all the mixture is used and make in the oven for ten minutes. They spring back to the touch when pressed lightly. Remove from sheet onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Sandwich together with buttercream or marshmallow fluff. So yum!!!