Hello, back again.
The Christmas Cake has now been cooked and I’m feeling very pleased with myself for getting one job out of the way, this is just a very short post to add some photos.
Hopefully the pictures show just how much fruit goes into the cake.
Every year I never really know what I want the iced cake to look like. Sometimes I opt for a more stylish, minimalist, all white look and other years I pull out all the stops and go for full on kitsch, with a Father Christmas, reindeer, snowmen and the whole festive caboodle.
My cake took exactly 3hrs 30min to cook, until a skewer came out clean, having laid a piece of baking paper over the top after 2hrs 30 mins.
For a couple of years in a row I didn’t ice at all but decorated the top of the cake with various kinds of nuts and luxurious glazed dried fruit. The end result is a jewell-like spectacular, I think even more of a feast for the eye than a traditionally iced cake. But, and it is a big but, I tried to ignore the disgruntled rumblings of the icing and marzipan supporters but their protestations two years on a row was too much and I have now resorted back to the more sugary option.
Just a final word on icing, I would recommend using a ready made fondant icing such as Renshaws which can be purchased from cake decorating shops or online. I find it does have a much cleaner taste than most of the icing purchased from supermarkets.
Don’t forget to feed with brandy and have fun decorating! Whatever the finished look it will taste divine.
