Every time I got ready to set this recipe down I managed to get busy doing something else. Anyway better late than never, so here we go.
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 and half cup flour
3 eggs
1 level teaspoon baking powder
Rum/ Brandy soaked nuts and spices
Caramelized sugar syrup
Almond/Strawberry/ Vanilla essence
Caraway Seeds
Method
Remove the soaked nuts from the rum or brandy one day before baking the cake. Look for method below.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c
Liquidize the sugar, eggs and butter till soft.
Sieve flour and baking powder together.
Fold the flour into the batter using a spatula.
Add the soaked nuts and mix again.
Add the caramelized sugar syrup till the batter has the right color.Look at how to make syrup below.
Add the essence that you are using. Any one of the above, not all three.
Pour the batter into the baking dish and sprinkle with caraway seeds.
Bake till done. It should take about two and half to three hours in the regular oven.
If you are using the microwave you can skip the preheat oven step and just bake it on low heat for 15 minutes.
Pre preparation
Soaked Nuts
Soak walnuts, raisins, white preserve (petha), candied lemon rind, raw papaya, grated ginger, nutmeg bits, almonds and anything else you like in rum or brandy about a month before you make the cake. You can add or delete from this above list nothing is hard and fast.
Many people prefer rum, but I use brandy myself. Also I tend to stick with the regular dry fruit available at home. I usually do the soaking for double the amount that I think I will need as I end up making more than one Christmas cake each year. October is the month I soak the nuts and spices.
Caramelized sugar syrup
The Caramelized sugar syrup can be made weeks in advance as well. This is what gives the Christmas cake its typical dark color and somewhat burnt flavor. It does not spoil soon and you can store it in a glass jar for ages. Here is how you make it.
Take a thick bottomed pan and heat it nicely. Now add the quarter cup sugar to it. Stir nicely till it gets brown and then burns. When it is dark and not yet black add water to the mixture. Watch out for splashes. Make sure it’s not too thin and not too thick. It should be like sticky maple syrup. Now once it cools store it up to a year.
