Best made around a month in advance, this fruity, almondy, moist Christmas cake is loaded with dried fruit and marzipan and fed with amaretto. Unlike other recipes, you can start and finish this cake on the same day. The cake batter is quick and easy to make and arguably the most time consuming aspect of the dish is lining and greasing the cake tin.
Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
Part 1 – weigh the butter, sugar, mixed dried fruits, prepared dates, figs, apricots, cherries and cranberries into a large saucepan with the orange and lemon juices and zest and the amaretto. Slowly bring to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring from time to time, for 10 minutes.
Transfer to a heat proof bowl and set aside to cool for a minimum of 30 minutes. Give it a stir occasionally to aid the cooling process.
Now chop the marzipan into small cubes. Lay some baking parchment onto a flat surface (I use a chopping board) and scatter the marzipan cubes on it, in an even layer. Pop in the freezer to harden
Line the cake tin: you need a 20cm/8inch deep-sided square baking tin. You could also use a 23cm/9in deep-sided round baking tin. Use 2 layers of baking paper and brown paper around the outside of the tin - see information in post for further details.
Part 2 – preheat oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3 (fan 150°C).When the dried fruit mixture has cooled, beat in the ground almonds.
Next, add the beaten eggs and stir to mix well.
Place a sieve over the cake mixture and sift over the flour, salt, baking powder, mixed spice, cinnamon and allspice. Fold, until nearly mixed in.
Finally, fold in the frozen marzipan and transfer to your prepared cake tin, level the surface and then make a slight indentation in the centre.
Place in the centre of a preheated oven and cook for 45 minutes. Then, turn the oven down to 140°C/275°F/Gas 1 (fan 120°C). Cook for a further 2 – 2¼ hours, or until the cake is cooked. It is cooked when the centre of the cake feels firm to the touch and is a dark golden brown. To check, pierce the cake with a skewer or knife – when the cake is cooked, it should some out clean. Keep an eye on the cake as it cooks – if it is browning too quickly cover gently with foil.
When cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. If adding extra amaretto, puncture the cake 10 - 12 times with a skewer or sharp knife and drizzle over 2 tablespoons amaretto.
When the cake is cool, take out of the tin and remove the baking parchment. Re-wrap in fresh baking paper and then in 2 layers of kitchen foil. Set aside in an airtight container a for a minimum 3 – 4 weeks, or up to 3 months, for the cake to mature.
Optional: I like to feed the cake with an extra 3 - 4 tablespoons amaretto whilst it is maturing. 3 - 4 weeks before you marzipan and finish the cake, unwrap it and feed it weekly with 1 tablespoon amaretto. Rewrap carefully.
Finish the cake: gently heat the apricot jam and water in a saucepan over a moderate heat. Mix well and then force through a sieve.
Using your hands, push the marzipan together or make a square shape. Sprinkle the icing sugar over a kitchen surface and roll out the marzipan to measure 20cm/8in square. Use the base of the baking tin as a guide and a stencil to cut around.
Brush the top of the cake with the apricot jam and then cover with the marzipan. Brush this with another layer of apricot jam.Decorate with your choice of dried fruit and nuts and then brush these with a final layer of apricot jam.
Voila!!!
Where is this recipe from?
This recipe is slightly adapted from Mary Cadogan’s Simmer and Stir Recipe on the BBC Good Food website. Mary uses cherry brandy instead of amaretto (which I think would be amazing and is an excellent alternative if you dont like amaretto) and she doesn’t add any cubed marzipan. Feel free to miss this out if you are not a marzipan fan.
Equipment:
Lining a Christmas Cake baking tin:
This cake is going to cook in the oven for a long time, so it is important that the cake tin is properly lined in numerous layers of paper. This will help prevent the outside of the cake overcooking and potentially burning, before the inside of the cake is cooked.