Traditional Christmas Cake

Ingredients

Orange zest
Lemon zest
25g Waitrose Pecan Nuts, chopped
25g Waitrose Whole Almonds, chopped
½tsp mixed spice
¼tsp ground nutmeg
175g Waitrose Superfine Plain Flour, sifted
200g Waitrose Greek Currants
100g Waitrose Australian Sultanas
100g Waitrose Cape Raisins
85g Waitrose Glacé Provençal Cherries, quartered
40g Waitrose Italian Cut Mixed Peel
75g Waitrose Ready-to-Eat Dried Apricots, roughly chopped
50g Haven Glacé Pineapple Wedges, roughly chopped
2tbsp Waitrose 3 Year Old Brandy
175g unsalted butter
175g Billington's Natural Molasses Sugar
1tbsp black treacle
3 large eggs, beaten

Method

1. Place the fruit in a large bowl, pour in the brandy, stir, cover and leave overnight.
2. Prepare an 18cm round cake tin by greasing the base and sides and lining with a double thickness of baking parchment.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (use an electric whisk if you have one), add the treacle and mix well.
4. Gradually add the eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition to prevent curdling. If the mixture does curdle add 1tbsp flour, beat until smooth, then continue to add the eggs.
5. Gently fold in the flour and spices with a metal spoon. Fold in the nuts, lemon and orange zest and the soaked fruit mixture until well mixed.
6. Carefully spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin, levelling the surface with the back of a spoon. Place a circular 'tent' of parchment paper, with a small hole in the middle, over the mixture. For extra protection, tie a double thickness band of brown paper around the outside of the tin to prevent the cake from cooking too quickly around the edges.
7. Stand the cake tin on a couple of sheets of brown paper on a baking tray and place in a preheated oven 140ºC, gas mark 1 for about 3-3½ hours, or until a sharp knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.
8. Allow the cake to cool in the tin. When cold, remove from the tin and wrap in greaseproof paper or foil and store in an airtight tin. For a really moist cake, prick the cake with a fine skewer all over and feed with 1tbsp brandy every 2-3 weeks until ready to decorate. The cake will mature with keeping.

Cook's tips

You'll need to plan ahead when making this cake as the dried fruits are soaked in brandy overnight and cooking time is 3½ hours. When making the cake; the eggs, butter and black treacle should be at room temperature.