To the tune Shakermaker by Oasis
Hooray- it is time for my favourite half term activity!
Bake along with me if you wish! My recipe is based on the Rachel Allen Bake
First up, soak the dried fruits overnight/ as long as you want! This year I used 225g raisins, 225g mixed dried fruit, 100g cranberries, 50g dates, 25g crystalised ginger, 100g cherries, 50g figs. I chopped up the larger fruits so they were all roughly the same size, then covered in 125ml brandy/ whisky/ something like that.
The fruit will plump up the longer you leave it. I changed up the dried fruit from the recipe- it included dried apricots, sultanas, mixed peel (I find it easier to add mixed dried fruit)- this year I added figs as well as cranberries and cherries to the mix. You could use currants etc too.
Preheat the oven to 150C, and line the tin/ tins you will use. This mixture does make one big cake, but as I give them away I prefer to make 2 smaller ones with it.
Then in a big bowl (it does need to be a big bowl!) cream the butter (275g at room temp- I left it out while I went on a run + had a shower + lunch).
Then add in 275g soft brown sugar and mix again. I tried it with my mixer but I prefer it by hand, so got out my wooden spoon for the rest of it!
Add 5 eggs, one at a time, and mix each one in well.
Then add 2 tsb molasses (I added this to give it a richer more treacley flavour) and mix in again.
Then add some grated orange zest and 50g ground almond.
Then sift on 275g plain flour and whatever spices you like. I added 1 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/t tsp cloves, 1/4 tsp ginger and a little grated nutmeg. Be careful not to drop your nutmeg into the bowl. Ahem.
Then add the dried fruit and any liquid left in the bowl. Mix some more!
Yum! You will have a dark coloured smooth mixture filled with bright jewels of dried fruit. Give it a special stir and make a wish! 🙂
Spoon into the pans. I had a lot of batter, so I made some in mini loaf cases too (this also may stop Andy from buying them from Aldi!).
The little ones took 40 mins before a skewer came out clean- for the last 10 mins I cover them in silver foil.
After an hour I took the big ones out and covered them in foil.
I used baking beans to hold the foil down- last year I had trouble with the warm air pushing the foil off.
In total these took about 2 1/2 hours, but a larger tin will take longer, up to 3 1/4 hours. Just check every now and then. And enjoy the lovely smell.
Keep them covered in foil until they cool (this helps to stop them drying out). Then store in an airtight container until you want to ice them.
I get to do it all again tomorrow with the other lot of dried fruit too!
I might practise my sugarcraft on these cuties this week 🙂
Join me later in the year when I cover them in marzipan, icing, decorations or almond paste. (That should be read out in a sort of voice over voice- you know, like on the TV).
I love love love making Christmas cakes. When I was little we always made hampers for our grandparents-things like home-made jam and marmalade, and of course a home-made Christmas cake (which my Mum let us decorate with coloured icing!). So doing it at this time of year makes me feel quite nostalgic. As I make a few of them for gifts it also gives me time to think of the people I am making it for (and the people I used to make them for who are no longer with us).
See my posts from last year with my previous cakes if you fancy it.
Do you love making Christmas cakes? Anything you do which makes you feel nostalgic?
Then press it into the case/ pie dish etc.
Carefully spoon onto base and then  bake in the oven.
Yum! The ginger base was a lovely addition and complemented the spices in the pie mix.
The only problem is that the cupcake cases have stained the pie blue! Not so good! Oh, and we have lots to eat now, although it was popular last night it does make a big pie! Do you think this would freeze? I might try a couple and see.
These did not go so well! I used spelt flour, baking powder, kara coconut milk, molasses, vanilla and pumpkin puree, but the batter was too runny and the first lot had to be binned. The second lot tasted amazing but still not very photogenic! I served it with some whole earth chocolate caramel spread (love this- my weekend treat!) and some apple/pumpkin sauce- I basically chopped 2 apples (from the fruit bag) with a little water, tsp agave, cinnamon, and a tbs pumpkin puree (actually because I could not fit the rest of the tin into the plastic tub for the fridge, what a happy accident) until the apples softened a little. This was yum!
I had the rest of the apple pumpkin sauce for lunch with some rice pudding- 30g flaked rice and 150ml kara coconut milk and a tbs maple syrup all cooked in the microwave. Sooooo yummy and autumnal 🙂
I went for the red onion squash and it is currently roasting in the oven with some rosemary-mmmm. Â Am going to make some kind of stew- chickpeas will be involved. Possibly with a baked sweet potato. We shall see. I feel my fingers turning orange as we speak!
I have started on project Christmas cake 2011. My fave half term project! In that bowl is a lot of dried fruit- raisins, sultanas, mixed peel, cranberries, cherries, dates, figs, chopped crystallised ginger, and also a big glug of some kind of alcohol. The recipe says it needs to soak for 2 hours, but I am thinking the longer the better, so it is going to soak overnight. Just the smell makes me cough! 🙂
And then I whizzed them up in the food processor.
Along with some dark chocolate.
I used Waitrose soft dates (these are soooooo yummy) and dark chocolate dreams instead of regular nut butter- thought it would go.
Then out came the nuts, in went the dates and pb, then after it was whizzed for a bit, the nuts went back in again. Yum.
Dollop it onto a lined brownie pan.
Then smooth down and refrigerate.
I had one last night and it was delish- the crunch from the almonds is lovely and they are so rich and fudgy.
The rest are wrapped in cling film for another day.
Dark chocolate covered almonds (from Disney!) and they are lovely! So after eating the packet (and not being able to get any in the UK) I decided to attempt my own.
Roasted almonds in a bowl (one cup), dark chocolate melted in the microwave (probably around 40g?).
Mix it all up in a bowl.
Spread out on a baking tray and leave to set.
I made a lovely almond chai latte- heated some almond milk, used my tea strainer thing filled with Whitards cinnamon chai (which is just spices, no tea) and then enjoyed.
Yum! It went very frothy and was delicious. Mmmmmm. 🙂
A squash box!!!! I kept seeing these on blogs and loving the look of them. Then, while I was looking online at various veg box places (for my budget challenge) I found that 
I got some apples (I think they are russet apples?) pears and oranges- lovely.Plus I just noticed I made a hidden Mickey with the orange and apples! Now I cannot wait to make lots of soup, roasted squash things, baked apple desserts and other bits this week- yay! All recipe ideas gratefully received!
I also got a prize! I won a prize from 
I also got an order from planet organic. I always used to order bits from them, but have not for ages. Then when I did the 
Cherry bakewell (ish?)- cherries, oats, almond milk, almond extract, mixed spice.
Tropical- dried mango, oats, dessicated coconut, oats, almond milk.
Peaches, oats, almond milk- which I then topped with flaked almonds. Yum.
Soya yoghurt, rude health muesli, apple from my garden and a fig.
Rye bread with pb, and DCD, and a pear from Andy’s parents garden. Loving the garden produce today.
Cocoa mint Lara bar from my blog swap with Errign. It was nice, but I think that our UK nakd bars are better. 🙂
It was super tasty 🙂
One of the cakes I decorated! Can you guess which one I ate?
I did give Andy one of the roses though- super sweet! 🙂 I am going to choose it as my favourite even though I did not really want to eat it- I wanted to just look at it!