HOME SCIENCE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 41, 27 November 1937, Page 10

HOME SCIENCE

MODERN HOUSEKEEPING. ( CHRISTMAS CAKES. (By an Otago University Graduate.) If you have not yet done so, now is the time to bake your Christmas cake or cakes which may vary in richness yet be served during the Christmas season. To make the cake now, several weeks in advance, and ensure its keeping fresh and moist, the greatest care must lie taken in the baking and storing of the cake. > At least one cake of the fruity fragrant variety, and which will be iced, simply must be made if you are going to uphold the traditions. Spices, which we are told are intended as a symbol of the frankincense and myrrh brought to Bethlehem by the Three Wise Men, may be added lavishly to recipes used for the Christmas cake. However, they are not absolutely necessary to characterise the cake, as you, like many “moderns,” may prefer little or no spice. A good recipe for a- ricli Christmas cake is: lib butter 11b sugar 12 eggs flour l£lbs raisins sultanas j lib currants lib cherries all, lemon peel lib dates lib ginger - • lib almonds 2 large tins pineapple (juice strained off) 2 teaspoons cinnamon teaspoon nutmeg 2 teaspoons mixed spice 1 teaspoon (each) of rose, almond, and lemon essence | cup brandy. Cream the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs unbeaten, one by one, sift the spices with the flour and add to the mixture, then add the essences together with the fruit which has been thoroughly cleaned with flour. Lastly add the brandy. Place the. cake in a well-papered "tin, making, with the spoon, a slight hollow in the centre. Place the tin in the middle of the oven at 350 degrees Farenheit, then reduce the temperature to 300 degrees, baking five hours. Be sure to let the oven be well heated When the cake is first put in, otherwise the fruit will sink. And no matter how much of a hurry you are in, dredge the currants, etc., with flour to prevent the fruits sticking together in the mixture. , When the cake is cooled, and ready for storing wrap it in a sheet of clean white paper, or even better, celophane, and place it in an airtight tin. grease melted on to the cracks of a tin will act as a form of “soldering,” which may be easily removed when the cake is ivanted. ,