Easiest Way to Cook Perfect Classic Christmas Cake

Classic Christmas Cake.

You can cook Classic Christmas Cake using 23 ingredients and 13 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Classic Christmas Cake

1. It's of Cake.
2. It's 175 grams of Raisins.
3. You need 500 grams of Currents.
4. You need 350 grams of Sultanans.
5. It's 350 grams of Glaced Cherries.
6. You need 150 ml of Brandy/Sherry.
7. It's 2 of Orange Zest.
8. It's 250 grams of Butter.
9. Prepare 250 grams of Molasses Sugar.
10. You need 4 of Eggs.
11. You need 1 tbsp of Treacle.
12. It's 75 grams of Chopped, Blanched Almonds.
13. You need 250 grams of Flour.
14. It's 1 1/2 tsp of Mixed Spice.
15. You need of Covering.
16. It's 3 tbsp of Apricot Jam.
17. It's 1 of Icing Sugar.
18. You need 675 grams of Marzipan.
19. It's of Icing.
20. You need 3 of Egg Whites.
21. It's 675 grams of Icing Sugar.
22. It's 3 tsp of Lemon Juice.
23. You need 1 1/2 tsp of Glycerine.

Classic Christmas Cake instructions

1. Place all the dried fruit in a large mixing bowl. Pour over the Brandy and stir in the orange zest. Soak overnight..
2. Preheat the oven to 140°C. Grease and double 23 cm line tin..
3. Beat butter, sugar, eggs, treacle & almonds. Add flour and ground spice, stir in the soaked fruit..
4. Spoon into prepared cake tin and level. Bake for 4 to 4 1/2 hours, if after 2 hours it is a rich, golden, brown colour, cover with foil. Once a scewer comes out clean, remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin. When cool, pierce the cake with fine holes and pour over brandy. Remove for tin and wrap in double layer wax paper and store. Week dousing with a cap full brandy..
5. Or spoon into 10x5cm bun pans and bake for 1h40min.
6. 1 week before the cake is needed, cover the cake. Stand the cake upside down, flat side uppermost. Brush the sides and the top of the cake with the warm apricot jam..
7. Liberally dust a work surface with icing supar and then roll out the marzipan to about 5cm larger than the surface of the cake. Keep moving the marzipan as you roll, checking that it is nnot sticking to the work surface. Dust the work surface with more icing sugar as necessary..
8. Carefully lift the marzipnn over the cake using a rolling pin. Smoothe it down..
9. For the royal icing whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until they become frothy. Mix in the sifted icing sugar a tbl full at a time..
10. Stir in the lemon juice and glycerine and beat the icing until it is very stiff and white and stands up in peaks..
11. Cover the surface of the icing tightly with clingfilm and keep in a cool place until needed,.
12. To ice the cake, place all the icing onto the top of the cake. Spread evenly over the top and sides of the cake with a palette knife. For a snow-peak effect, use a smaller palette knife to rough up the icing..
13. Leave the cake loosely covered overnight for the icing to harden a little, then wrap or store in an airtight container ina cool place until needed,.