Yesterday I started making our Christmas Cake...I had intended to follow Rose's bake-along at the forum but Life got in the way as it does at times ;)
The one I'm making is from the Women's Weekly "best recipes from The Weekly" which contains their most requested and best recipes. It's the Melt and Mix Fruit Cake on P72 and is delicious.
I've altered it slightly so here's my version
1 1/2 kilos mixed dried fruit 1/2 cup Cointreau* soaked together overnight.
This morning I added
1T Golden Syrup
1 grated apple
1 firmly packed cup of brown sugar
2 organic duck eggs and 2 organic chicken eggs
I melted 250 gms unsalted butter and added that once it had cooled a little
1/2 cups of wholemeal self-raising flour
2 cups of wholemeal plain flour
1t mixed spice and
1/2 cup of milk were mixed in very thoroughly and I pressed a few pecans nuts into the top once the batter was in the tin and smoothed flat.
Mum brought the Cointreau back from the UK in 2008...Uncle Kenneth had bought years ago as you can see from the old label on the bottle...it has a beautiful orange flavour. My camera batteries died at this stage but hopefully I can add a pic of the cooked cake later today.
I lined my large square tin with 3 layers of baking paper to prevent the cake from burning and it will cook for about 3 1/2 hours, near the bottom of a slow oven ie 150C Then I will brush it with another 2T of Cointreau let it cool completely and then wrap it firmly in cling film and aluminium foil to keep in the fridge until Christmas.
The cake is taking forever to cool down but here it still in the tin...it weighs well over 2kgs which is maximum my scales go up to and would have cost about $15 to make as I already had the Cointreau and the eggs were free...
I also have a 2Kg turkey breast in the freezer and will buy a ham nearer the time as I have less fridge space than usual.
Priscilla has still not been called to the specialist's rooms...I find this quite outrageous...everything we ever hear about cancer is get it seen to quickly. She will phone her GP again tomorrow.
Bye bye for now,
Love from Sue
*you could use sherry, brandy, rum or whisky
The one I'm making is from the Women's Weekly "best recipes from The Weekly" which contains their most requested and best recipes. It's the Melt and Mix Fruit Cake on P72 and is delicious.
I've altered it slightly so here's my version
1 1/2 kilos mixed dried fruit 1/2 cup Cointreau* soaked together overnight.
This morning I added
1T Golden Syrup
1 grated apple
1 firmly packed cup of brown sugar
2 organic duck eggs and 2 organic chicken eggs
I melted 250 gms unsalted butter and added that once it had cooled a little
1/2 cups of wholemeal self-raising flour
2 cups of wholemeal plain flour
1t mixed spice and
1/2 cup of milk were mixed in very thoroughly and I pressed a few pecans nuts into the top once the batter was in the tin and smoothed flat.
Mum brought the Cointreau back from the UK in 2008...Uncle Kenneth had bought years ago as you can see from the old label on the bottle...it has a beautiful orange flavour. My camera batteries died at this stage but hopefully I can add a pic of the cooked cake later today.
I lined my large square tin with 3 layers of baking paper to prevent the cake from burning and it will cook for about 3 1/2 hours, near the bottom of a slow oven ie 150C Then I will brush it with another 2T of Cointreau let it cool completely and then wrap it firmly in cling film and aluminium foil to keep in the fridge until Christmas.
The cake is taking forever to cool down but here it still in the tin...it weighs well over 2kgs which is maximum my scales go up to and would have cost about $15 to make as I already had the Cointreau and the eggs were free...
I also have a 2Kg turkey breast in the freezer and will buy a ham nearer the time as I have less fridge space than usual.
Priscilla has still not been called to the specialist's rooms...I find this quite outrageous...everything we ever hear about cancer is get it seen to quickly. She will phone her GP again tomorrow.
Bye bye for now,
Love from Sue
*you could use sherry, brandy, rum or whisky
I always use whisky in my cake, but that's because I can't stand to drink it, so it stays reserved for that! I don't mind it in cake though. If I had Cointreau in the cupboard I'd more likely drink it....
ReplyDeleteThe sooner definitely the better as regards cancer treatment. Even throwing money at it and with a very determined GP it took a couple of weeks for me to get into a specialist (and then thanks to an appointment mix up, an extra week after that and 2 trips to Brisbane). I think there's just not enough good specialists to go round. Doesn't hurt to keep prodding and phoning though,I generally do my best to irritate people into action, they're so tired of dealing with me they hurry it through lol.
Fingers and everything are still crossed here.
xx
You are right about the need to keep pushing at times....the stress just makes the patient feel even worse too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your support, Claire
xxx
The cake looks delicious. What can i use instead of the eggs? and which spices in the mixed spices?
ReplyDeleteI'll have to ask at the forum about egg substitutes...I have read a tablespoon of vinegar but that sounds odd. The mixed spices are a commercial blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_spice
xxx