greetings in a jar

Christmas cake is a type of fruitcake served at Christmas time in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Philippines and many Commonwealth countries.

A Christmas cake may be light or dark, crumbly-moist to sticky-wet, spongy to heavy, leavened or unleavened, shaped round, square or oblong as whole cakes, fairy cakes, or petit fours, with marzipan, icing, glazing, dusting with icing sugar, or plain. If a Christmas cake is covered in icing, it is quite common for it to be decorated – models of houses, of fir trees or of Santa Claus may be in the array of decorations.

Every year like clock work, it is time for the annual fruit cake. I have a range of recipes for that, collected over the years from different countries, different people and even magazines and news papers. Last year I came across this recipe for Drambuie & Orange Christmas cake, in the Christmas Edition of Magazine Delicious. It was a big success among friends last year, so I decided to make it again this year.

Combined with my absolute dislike for Christmas cards, I thought I give a Christmas cake instead. And there it was  “Greetings in a jar“.

Once the cakes are finished, let them cool completely. Drizzle two table-spoon of Drambuie over it, attach the lid and close. The next day you add another two table-spoon of Drambuie. Close again and set aside for a couple of days.

For the decor, brush the cakes with hot orange marmalade, decorate with some dried fruits and nuts, and brush again with marmalade. Drizzle a teaspoon of Drambuie on top, set alight and press down the lid. The fire will burn the oxygen, suck down the lid, close it tight.

All you have to do now is decorate at your hearts content.

Drambuie & Orange Christmas Cake

This recipe is inspired from the 2010 Christmas Edition of Delicious Magazine

Ingredients

• 125g dried cherries

• 550g dried currants

• 200g sultanas

• 200g raisins

• 150g dried apricots

• 150g candied orange peel

• 100g aranzini

• 200ml Drambuie

• 275g salted butter

• ½ tsp. fleur de sel

• 275g dark brown sugar

• 2 zest of orange

• 2 zest of lemon

• 1 juice of orange

• 1 juice of lemon

• 5 pc whole eggs

• ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

• ½ tsp. cloves powder

• ½ tsp. cinnamon powder

• ½ tsp. ginger powder

• 275g all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• 50g almond powder

• 200g chopped walnuts

• 1 tbsp. black treacle

• 1 tbsp. orange Marmalade

Instructions

•        Quarter the dried apricots and mix with the rest of the dried fruits in a large bowl

•        Pour over the Drambuie and mix well, cover with plastic film, and let soak over night

•        Next day, pre-heat the oven to 140 ºC (Gas-mark 1)

•        In a mixing bowl combine the dark brown sugar, salted butter, fleur de sel, orange- and lemon zest

•        Mix with your favorite kitchen mixer until creamy

•        Add the eggs one by one, scrape down the sides after each egg

•        In a separate bowl sift the flour, the spices and baking powder

•        Once the butter mixture is creamy add on top of the fruit mixture.

•        Add the remaining ingredients

•        Mix with a wooden spoon until incorporated

•        Line the bottom of a 20 cm cake pan with baking paper, and brush lightly with butter

•        Divide the mixture evenly between the cake tins

•        Put in the oven and bake for about 2½ hours at 140 ºC (Gas-mark 1), until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean

•        Pour a glass of water onto the baking tray holding your cakes to generate a little steam

•        Let the cake cool completely

•        Wrap the cake in plastic foil and store over night in a cool place

•        Sprinkle the cake with 3 tbsp. of Drambuie

•        Re-wrap the cake and store for a week, and sprinkle again with 3 tbsp. of Drambuie

•        Brush with hot orange marmalade

•        Decorate the cake with nuts and dried fruit and brush with orange marmalade again

---