Christmas Goodies: Excellent Christmas cake

Listener 12/12/2011

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Lois Daish

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In a festive series from our Lois Daish archive, we start with a cake with unusual proportions of fruit.

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First prepare the fruit. Pick through the various raisins to find any stray stalks. Roughly chop the seeded raisins. Finely chop the cherries and peel, and sliver the almonds.
Put all the fruit and nuts in a bowl with the marmalade and brandy. Mix thoroughly together. this can be done a day ahead if you wish.
Cream the butter and brown sugar together until soft and light, then beat in the treacle.
Beat in the eggs once at a time, then the vanilla. If the mixture starts to curdle add a tablespoon of the flour.
Sift the flour with the spices and beat lightly into the creamed mixture. Beat in the 2 tsp of orange zest and 1 tsp of lemon zest. Mix in the fruit. Line a deep 20 cm square cake time with greaseproof paper.
Pile the mixture into the tin, smoothing the top evenly. Bake at 160 degC for 1½hours. Reduce the heat to 150 degC and bake for another 30 to 60 minutes until the cake is firm right to the middle and a metal skewer comes out clean. Turn off the oven, open the door and leave the cake in the oven for another 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool completely before turning out. Wrap in a brandy-soaked cloth, if you wish, and store in an airtight tin or plastic bag.
This cake is fine to cut and eat the next day, but will mature in flavour if kept for three weeks before cutting. It will keep for a year if dabbed with brandy from time to time and kept in a cool place.