Simple Fruit Cake with Apricot Jam and Pecans

To start off my Christmas series this year I thought I'd make something I'd never done before, but something that would fit in nicely and wasn't too fancy either. This cake was the first on my list to blog about as it needs to be made a month or two beforehand to soak up the alcohol and mature ready for Christmas. I decided to bake this cake because although it is a Christmas classic our family have never actually made it and eaten it at Christmas before and I have always liked to give it a try, and I can't think of a reason why I wouldn't like it. There are lots of ways to make a fruit cake but since its my first (surprisingly so) I'm going to stick to the traditional recipe. If you are fond of icing or marzipan on your Christmas cakes then you can make some and decorate the top, and finish it off with a nice Christmassy flower like holly, or add some mini ornaments. Be as creative as you like! But for mine I'll just be using some apricot jam and some pecans, yum!

To Make

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas2 and line a 20cm/8inch round cake tin with baking parchment.

Weigh out your ingredients and cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl with the back of a wooden spoon. To do this I used my new favourite blue baking bowl from Lakeland. These kind of bowls are ideal for baking as they are strong and sturdy and able to hold plenty of ingredients. Great for this kind of cake. If it still rocks about a bit, place a damp tea towel underneath.

Once thats done, add the eggs one at a time and mix in. It'll look a bit odd after this step but don't worry as once the flour is in it will all come together as it is supposed to.

Grab a sieve and sift in the flour, spices, and salt. You can adjust the amount of spice according to your personal preference, but remember to keep in mind that cinnamon can be sometimes overpowering if too much is used. Then fold in until fully combined. If your mixture seems to be a bit too floury, add a teaspoon of water.

Next, add in your dried fruit, mixed peel, glace cherries, ground almonds, black treacle, and vanilla essence and stir all together. If you have some marmalade that would go in nicely too.

Take a big spoon and transfer the mixture to the cake tin spreading evenly and making a slight hollow in the centre so the cake stays flat on top.

Bake in the oven for an hour and a half and then keep coming back and checking on it until your instincts tell you its ready. It will all depend on your oven and how powerful it is. Mine is very powerful so I cooked it for about two hours before I took it out. Another way to check if its cooked through properly is to test with a skewer. Poke a hole through the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean you can take it out. Place on a wire rack and let it cool for at least half an hour before decorating.

To feed it with some brandy or sherry, poke some holes in the cake with a knife or skewer and pour a teaspoon into each one then wrap up in tin foil and repeat every week or two in the lead up to Christmas.

To Decorate

Apricot Jam & Pecans
In a small pan, load two tablespoons of your apricot jam and heat it up on a low heat. When the jam has melted, coat a pastry brush with the jam and run over your cake until it is fully covered. Then take your pecans and place them around the outside of your cake, spacing them apart evenly. You can do this just on the outside or continue all the way into the centre.

Ingredients

For the cake:
200g/7oz Unsalted butter, softened
200g/7oz Dark brown sugar
4 Free range eggs
225g/8oz Plain Flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
800g/1 3/4lb Mixed dried fruit
100g/3 1/2oz Mixed Peel
150g/5oz Glace cherries
100g/ 3 1/2oz Ground almonds
2 tbsp Black Treacle
1 tsp Vanilla essence
Good quality brandy or sherry
Baking parchment for tin

To decorate:
2 tbsp Apricot jam
Pecans

Enjoy!
Emily X

Christmas Time: The Reason For The Season

This year has had me thinking a lot about Christmas and what it truly means to celebrate it. Without getting too deep, earlier this year, in the middle of being so ill the first week of March in so many words, I thought that was it for me. Not that I had a chance to do too much thinking, but when the ambulance men are carrying you to the ambulance on a stretcher and everything is blurry around you,  you start to imagine a different life, and the things you could do and see and be, to yourself and others. Sometimes it takes something big to happen for us to realise how lucky we are, and how much of a blessing every day is. I guess you could say that was the moment for me that changed my life, even if I hadn't realised. You might be wondering what that has to do with Christmas, but illness can give you an opportunity to look back and reflect, and think forward too.

When you are a child Christmas is such a wonderful and exciting time, but as you get older it seems to get less and less exciting and we lose the true meaning of it all and why Christmas even came to be. After coming to the conclusion over the past few months that really I didn't even think I would be here right now, and in the past eighteen years having been close to what could have been the end, I decided what better time to go back to where it all began, and the main things this time of year is all about. Jesus, family, and thankfulness. Because I have such a lot to be thankful for. If my whole life revolved around just those three things, I would be perfectly happy.

Isaiah 9:6-7
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince Of Peace. 

From the start of December onwards I want to focus on these three things, and fix my eyes on what truly matters.

1. The story and the birth of my saviour and the incredible gift given to us through his life and death.
2. My family and how important it is to have them around, and not taking them for granted when there are so many people without loved ones at Christmas. 
3. Being thankful for everything I have because someone somewhere is without what I do, and because even though things aren't always perfect, I can find myself content with what I've been given. 

So in the next few weeks, alongside my Christmas series featuring classic cakes and gifts to give to your friends and family I am a woman on a mission, to go back to basics and bring back the simple things that make Christmas so special, including things I have never really had a chance to do before, and those that just got lost in the process over the years. I encourage you to join me on my journey as I blog about these things and get back to what its really all about. 

Emily X