Sophie Gray's Really Good Christmas Cake
This is a lovely moist cake with a golden crumb that keeps for literally ages if well wrapped.
Sophie GrayAuthor and recipe creator
- prepare
- cook
- 12-16 servings
- Easy
Photo credit:Supplied - Sophie Gray
This recipe is for one large cake, but you can also use it to make great mini cakes or loaves. If you do this, you will need to adjust the cooking time accordingly – a small baked bean tin sized cake may only need 50 minutes, a tuna tin sized cake about an hour.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ kg mixed fruit
- ½ cup sherry, rum, whisky or brandy (note, just ½ cup of one of these)
- 1 apple, peeled and grated (I prefer a Granny Smith)
- 1 Tbsp honey or golden syrup
- 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 250g butter
- 4 eggs
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- For the toffee nut crust: 1 cup mixed nuts (include Brazils, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds, peanuts)
- For the toffee nut crust: 45g butter
- For the toffee nut crust: ½ cup sugar
- For the toffee nut crust: ½ cup water
Instructions
- Place chopped mixed fruit in large bowl, add sherry, grated apple, honey, sugar and eggs. Mix well with wooden spoon to break up any large clumps of fruit. Add cooled, melted butter, sifted flour and spice. Mix thoroughly.
- Place in a deep 23cm round or deep 20cm square cake tin lined with three sheets of greaseproof paper. Bring paper 5cm above edge of tin.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 165° for approximately 3 ½ hours or until cooked when tested (insert a knife or skewer into the middle – when removed it should be clean).
- Remove the cake from the oven, brush evenly with about two tablespoons of extra sherry, or brandy, rum or whatever you used and leave to cool. Wrap well and store in an airtight container away from direct sunlight.
- For the optional toffee nut crust: Place sugar, butter and water in a pan over a low heat. Bring to boil and boil over a low heat for 8 minutes or until mixture is golden brown. Add the nuts and remove from the heat. Coat the nuts in the toffee with as little stirring as possible, stirring causes toffee to crystallise.
- Pour nuts and toffee on top of the cake/s allowing excess toffee to drizzle down the sides. Using wet hands, press in any loose nuts and leave to set.
- Cakes covered with the nut crust will need to be wrapped in cellophane and stored in a cool place to prevent the toffee from becoming soft. The cakes will keep for months if air tight, the nut crust for several weeks.
