ANGELA NILSEN'S CHRISTMAS CAKE

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Angela Nilsen's Christmas cake image

A long-life Christmas cake that's bursting with flavours of spices and vanilla

Provided by Angela Nilsen

Categories     Dessert

Time 3h30m

Yield Cuts into 16 slices

Number Of Ingredients 16

200g butter , softened to room temperature
200g dark muscovado sugar
200g plain flour
4 eggs , beaten
50g ground almond
100ml sherry , sweet or dry, whatever you have in the cupboard
85g candied peel , roughly chopped (we used Sundora)
85g glacé cherry , roughly chopped
250g raisin
250g currant
100g pack pecan nuts, broken into big pieces
finely grated zest 1 lemon
1½ tsp mixed spice
1½ tsp rosewater
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp baking powder

Steps:

  • Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Line the base and sides of a 20 cm round, 7.5 cm deep cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer for 1-2 mins until very creamy and pale in colour, scraping down the sides of the bowl half way through. Stir in a spoonful of the flour, then stir in the beaten egg and the rest of the flour alternately, a quarter at a time, beating well each time with a wooden spoon. Stir in the almonds.
  • Mix in the sherry (the mix will look curdled), then add the peel, cherries, raisins, cherries, nuts, lemon zest, spice, rosewater and vanilla. Beat together to mix, then stir in the baking powder.
  • Spoon mixture into the tin and smooth the top, making a slight dip in the centre. Bake for 30 mins, then lower temperature to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2 and bake a further 2-2¼ hrs, until a skewer insterted in the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then take out of the tin and peel off the lining paper. When completely cold, wrap well in cling film and foil to store until ready to decorate. The cake will keep for several months.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 427 calories, Fat 22 grams fat, SaturatedFat 8 grams saturated fat, Carbohydrate 53 grams carbohydrates, Sugar 17 grams sugar, Fiber 2 grams fiber, Protein 7 grams protein, Sodium 0.42 milligram of sodium

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