CHRISTMAS CHEER

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 50, 22 November 1930, Page 20

CHRISTMAS CHEER

Rich Christmas cakes should always be made a month or more before they are required for iise, the last week in November being a customary date. When the cake has been cooked and allowed to get cold, pack it up in several layers of grease-proof paper and keep it in a dry and airtight place to improve in flavour before decorating. Christmas Cake No. 1. Warm, without melting, Jib. butter, adding to it lib. castor sugar and beating the two ingredients until they are reduced to a soft white creamy mass. Beat up 10 eggs until they are frothy, and then stir them gradually into the mixture. Chop up 41b. of mixed peel, cut 4oz. crystallised cherries into shreds, blanch and shred the same quantity of sweet almonds, stalk and clean IJlb. clean currants and 141 b. of sultanas. Mix all the fruit together and add Joz. of ground allspice or powdered cinnamon and nutmeg. Leave l|lb. flour in a baking tin in a warm oven until it colours slightly, then sieve it, together with a pinch of salt, and add to the butter, sugar and eggs. Next mix in the fruit thoroughly, and lastly add two teaspoonfuls of melted chocolate, 1 gill of brandy and the same quantity of milk. Mix all these ingredients well and put the mixture into a cake tin lined with three layers of greased paper, nnd tie round the outside a band of brown paper a few inches deeper than the tin. Bake the cake for 20 minutes in a fairly hot oven, then cool it slightly, and, continue cooking for a further 3$ to 4| hours. When it is ready, take it out of the tin and leave it to get cold. Christmas Cake No. 2. One pound of flour, 11b. of butter, lib. of sugar, 11b. of raisins, 21b. of currants, 41b. citron peel, Jib. lemon peel, 12 eggs (leaving out the white of three), essence of lemon and salt. Beat the butter to a cream with the hand; then put in the sugar, and beat till it is light and white. Add eggs by degrees, then flour, fruit, flavouring and salt. Bake for four hours in a moderate oven. Christmas Cake No. 3. One pound of sugar, IJlb. flour, 11b. butter, 11b. sultanas, 21b. currants, Jib. candied peel, 11b. raisins, 11b. muscatels, 1 cup sweet almonds, 1 wineglass brandy, 8 eggs, a few dates stoned, figs, candied fruits finely cut, 1 small packet mixed spice, 11b. treacle, small teaspoon salt. Beat butter and sugar to a cream, break in eggs separately, stirring well; add raisins, stoned, dates, figs, peel, almonds (blanched and chopped), then treacle, brandy, flour; stir thoroughly together. Line a cake tin first with buttered brown paper, then kitchen paper; lay a double sheet of paper over cake while baking. Cook from 4 to 5 hours. Christinas Cake No. 4. Take IJl'b. of flour, lib. sugar, lib. butter, 2Jlb. fruit, 9 eggs, peel and essence to taste, 1 teaspoonful baking powder. Cream the butter and sugar with the hand. Beat the whites and yolks separately, then together, and then add to the butter and sugar, then the flour and powder, and last the fruit and essence. Bake in moderate oven. Directions for making icings for Christmas cakes will be given later.