Ok, so I know this is completely the wrong time of year to post this recipe but it truly has taken me this long to get my act together. Christmas was at our house this year, and then we went camping. In between was socialising and sorting the house. No time for recipe writing! Now the school term is back is swing and I am back to more of a routine, I’m ready to write!
Hopefully you can pin this for next Christmas, or perhaps you’re already missing those Christmas flavours and want to give this a trial before the festivities start afresh at the end of the year. I guess it will be here before we know it! Either way, hopefully you enjoy recreating this recipe from my Grandma’s recipe book.
An interesting aside on this recipe is that my Grandma has noted next to the recipe name in her book that this recipe is taken from the Women’s Weekly 1949. This piqued my curiosity. I feel like cooking a recipe from the past somehow links you to those times. It’s like an experience that you have both shared. When this recipe came out in 1949 women across Australia were baking and enjoying these cakes with their loved ones. Now, 75 years later, we can recreate this moment and pay homage to the past. It also showed me that this recipe book was older than I’d thought!
All up, this recipe is fairly simple (if followed correctly). The last two steps are add ons from my Mother-in-Law that I missed with my Christmas cake. I felt like it was a bit drier than it needed to be, as I flipped the cake out of it’s cake tin as soon as it was cool enough to do so. The trapped steam and moisture created from wrapping the cake in foil and a tea towel overnight would have lead to a moister, more succulent cake. Nevertheless, for a first attempt at I Christmas Cake I’m pretty happy with our results!
Two weeks after the bake my Mother-in-Law visited, along with mum and my husband’s 90 year old grandma and aunty. We sat around enjoying a pre-Christmas morning tea with our Christmas Cake being the star of the show. Look, I’ll be honest: it wasn’t as good as my Mother-in-Law’s Christmas Cake. She is the all-time winner with her boozy version (4-5 tbs of Grande Marnier) + hand-painted marzipan fruit decorations (I’ll need to hit her up to post her recipe here sometime). However, it was good, just a little dry. It can certainly hold up it’s head amongst other less-fancy Christmas Cakes and needs to be given a re-run to be given the opportunity to be less dry.
Let us know if you give her the chance :). Enjoy!
- 8oz. (225 gms) Butter
- 1 tps. Lemon Rind
- 1 tps. Vanilla Essence
- ½ tps. Almond Essence
- 5 oz. (140 gms) White sugar
- 5 oz. (140 gms) Brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbs. Orange juice
- 2 tbs. Brandy or rum
- 6 oz. (170 gms) Glace cherries
- 8 oz. (225 gms) Mixed peel
- 4 oz. (115 gms) Chopped nuts (Blanched almonds + walnuts)
- 1 tbs. Mixed Fruit
- 13 oz. (370 gms) Plain flour
- ½ tps. Baking Powder
- 1 tps. Mixed spice
- Cream butter with lemon rind and vanilla and almond essence.
- Gradually add sugars mixed together.
- Then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Fold in halved cherries, peel, nuts and fruit.
- Sift flour, baking powder and spice 3 times.
- Add orange juice, brandy or rum, alternatively.
- Pour mixture into a 8½ in. Round or square tin and cook in moderately slow oven 3-3¼ hours.
- Leave cake in tin covered with foil and wrapped up with a tea towel overnight.
- Next day, wrap in cling wrap and place in storage tin.
