Now that the season of the witch is at an end we are beginning to think seriously about planning our Christmas!
My good friends Georgina and Rhonda have 'Santa' sorted already for their troop of kids........how wonderfully organised they are, unlike myself.....I have yet to decide what I would like never mind what I intend to give others!......some hints please otherwise stockings may be bare!
But the time has come for making those Christmas cakes and puddings.........yes the next week or so is the time to do it........... good quality booze filled cakes and puddings need time to mature or else you'll be eating a semi-dry confection that tastes like it's just had a glass of brandy thrown over the top of it......and who wants that!
Over the next two weekends, the best time to bake these sorts of things, I will be making my Christmas cakes and then hopefully the following weekend, my Christmas puddings....but then again if I am short of time I may leave it for another week or two and CHEAT!
Christmas pudding.........you either love it or hate it! and people seem to think that the pudding is so much more difficult to make compared to Christmas cake.
The idea of facing all that mixing and stirring and having to steam something for hours on end does put a lot of people off making their own, including myself, especially as I spent years baking probably hundreds of the things! that and the fact that a steam filled kitchen is just a nuisance, so I came up with my special 'Cheats Christmas Pudding'.......how I do I go about cheating my way to a Christmas pudding? well I'll let you into that little secret very soon......... but let me assure you that no one will be able to tell the difference whenever you serve it up!.........but for now let's concentrate on getting organised for the all important Christmas cake!
Christmas cakes and puddings are expensive things to make so we will budget ourselves and spread it over a couple of weeks.......so this week when you are out and about getting the weekly grocerys or food shop, you will need to add the following to your list if you haven't already got any of these on hand:
For Christmas cake:
these are the least amounts of items you will need :
1 x 250 g block unsalted butter
500 g castor sugar
6 medium eggs.....really fresh!
500 g self raising flour
small bottle of brandy, at least 500 mls
50 g mixed spice
800 g sultanas
300 g raisins
200 g mixed peel
300 g cherries - good quality glacé or maraschino
180 g pecans or walnuts
you will also need:
1 x 8 inch wide x 3-4 inch deep good quality heavy cake tin round, square or rectangle....your choice
some big muffin cases.......for the cooks treat!
parchment or grease proof paper.......brown paper is not necessary, but make sure you have enough parchment / grease proof for not only lining the tine but for wrapping the baked cake for storage afterwards!
a suitable wire rack for cooling (small squares)
some natural string,not plastic coated....it will melt! get enough to go around the width of your tin a couple of times
a pastry brush or a new & clean! 2 inch paint brush.......no laughing please!
Tin or aluminium foil.....for storing your cake
When you have all these things then you're good to go! Roll on Saturday when we will begin.
Don't worry about having leftover fruit, flour, spices etc. as we can use these things up when making our puddings at a later date!
See my Classic Christmas Cake recipe HERE! and if you have any questions or queries concerning the baking of your Christmas cake then let me know!
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