English Xmas Cake Eecipe

This traditional English Xmas cake recipe uses treacle (molasses) which gives a rich, moist finish. This recipe is for an 8" / 20cm round cake tin. Scale up the quantities for larger tins.

It's best when made a month or more in advance of tea-time as it matures and its flavour develops. The alcohol preserves it during this time. I've kept these cakes loosely covered for maaany months in cool, dry places and they've never gone off.

Ingredients

• 6oz / 175g butter
• 6oz / 175g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbspn treacle
• 6oz / 175g self-raising flour
• pinch of salt
• 1.5lb / 675g dried fruit (sultanas/raisins/currants...)
• 4oz / 115g glacé cherries
• 2oz / 50g chopped citrus candied peel
• 2 tspn spice (cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger...)
• rum / brandy

Method

• Cream the butter and sugar until well blended and pale
  
• Add the eggs and treacle and mix well
  
• Add all the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated
  
• Add a little slosh of your chosen alcohol (about 3-4 tbspn ought to do it)
  
• Prepare an 8" / 20cm round cake tin: line the sides and base with at least one layer of baking parchment/greaseproof paper to prevent the cake burning during the long, slow cooking
  
• Heat the oven to 150C / 300F / Gas mark 2 and bake the cake forone hour. Keep the cake in the oven and reduce the heat to 130C / 270F / Gas mark 1 for a further 2-3 hours. It's done when a skewer/knife inserted into the middle comes out clean

• Carefully remove the cake from its tin by sliding it onto a cooling rack so its bottom is now on the top. Make some holes on its exposed bottom with a skewer/fork and drizzle more rum/brandy all over. It will be absorped into the tiny holes and fill your nostrils with heady seasonal thoughts. Drizzle over enough so that each part of the surface has been thus moistened
  
• Allow to cool completely before loosely wrapping with the baking parchment/greaseproof paper. Store in a cool, dry place where it won't get eaten too early by small children or animals
  
• Finally, we need to "water" it with yet more alcohol. Whenever you remember to do so, or about every 2-3 weeks, reveal its maturing bottom and drizzle over more of your chosen tipple. Re-wrap loosely each time