Blogmas | Day 10 | Christmas Cake

I really can't explain to you how good today has been - I don't have to go into college tomorrow (fist pump), I passed my theory test FIRST TIME and decorated my Christmas cake and it looks sooooo cute!!

I love my cooking enrichment classes at college. It's always such a laugh and sometimes I'm quite pleased with how my crap cooking skills actually turn out - like this Christmas cake! So I thought I'd share the recipe with you all in true Blogmas spirit!

For the cake you will need... 

• 300g mixed dried fruits soaked in 75ml Whiskey, Rum or Brandy
• 75g stem ginger from a jar
• 4 tbsp ginger syrup from the jar
• 100g soft butter
• 150g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 100g soft light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp milk
• Finely grated lemon and orange zest 
• 25g ground almonds
• 75g whole glace cherries
• Small round of loaf tin

For the decoration you will need...

• 2 tbsp apricot jam
• 2 tbsp water
• 250g white marzipan
• 250g white roll out icing
• Whatever other decorations you want to use (I used red roll out icing for the stars and silver balls)

Instructions

1. Pre-soak your fruit. 
2. Turn your oven to 140C and line your baking tin. 
3. In a bowl, sift your flour and baking powder, then add the ginger, butter, mixed spice and sugar.
4. Whisk the ingredients together until it has all been mixed in and has a fluffy texture. 
5. Next add the eggs and the milk and mix these in.
6. Grate your lemon and orange and add this to the mixture, along with the ground almonds, cherries, and soaked fruit. Using a wooden spoon, fold this into the mixture so everything is combined.
7. Pour the mixture into the tin and place in the oven for about an hour and 20 minutes or until it has risen and has goldened. 
8. While your cake cools, start heating your jam in a small pan on a low heat and mix with water. 
9. Take the jam off of the heat and level out your cake if needs be (I had to cut some of the top off), then you can cover the sides and the top of the cake with the jam BUT make sure the cake has completely cooled first!!!
10. Once you've covered the cake in jam, cover it in the marzipan. Before you roll it out you will need to kneed it until it is soft enough to roll. 
11. Do the same process with the icing as you did with the marzipan. You don't have to use the jam between these two layers but if you feel that it will help then go ahead. 
12. Now you can start decorating. Pinterest has loads of fantastic ideas so why not be creative?!

Enjoy!

Georgia.xo