Granny Wilsher's Christmas Cake Recipe

Righty Ho ... here it is! My Granny's recipe for Christmas Cake. This is a very easy cake to make as you just chuck everything in a mixer, bung it in the oven and go away to write your Christmas cards or watch a good film!! I promised to post it yesterday so huge apologies that it took me until today! I had a baking filled evening last night and couldn't bring myself to blog as well ... my feet were killing me and I just fell into bed!

Granny Wilsher's Christmas Cake

Pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees centigrade, 300 F or Gas Mark 3.

Line a 20cm cake tin (make sure its a deep one too ) with a double lining of baking parchment at the base and all around. Prepare a double disc of paper to go on top too.

Ingredients

175g butter (soft)

175g lard or vegetable fat (soft)

175g dark moist brown sugar

175g caster sugar

6 large eggs

1 tablespoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

350g self raising flour

200g sultanas

200g currants

200g raisins

100g glace cherries

100g mixed peel

100g chopped walnuts ( I actually used macademia nuts chopped up as I'm not keen on walnuts)

100g ground almonds

1 tablespoon black treacle

1 small bottle Guinness (or other stout) ( you don't use the whole bottle!!)

brandy (maybe ... if you fancy)

Instructions

1. Cream the butter, lard, brown sugar & caster sugar. You can just chuck them all in a mixer and let it do the work if you like.

2. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.

3. Sieve the mixed spice and cinnamon into the flour and fold all of it into the mixture.

4. Add the fruit, peel and nuts and mix well.

5. Stir in the black treacle and enough Guinness to give a soft consistency (drink the rest ... says my mum!)

6. Pour into your cake tin and drop sharply onto your work surface ( not from too great a height!!)

Bake on bottom shelf of oven at 150 degrees centigrade (or as above ) for 1 and half hours.

Lower oven to 140 degrees and put disc of baking paper or foil on top. Bake for a further 2 and half hours or more - until a cake tester comes out clean when pushed into centre of cake.

Cool on wire rack and then store in an airtight tin.

You can spike holes in the cake and 'feed' it with brandy if desired and when closer to Christmas coat the top with a layer of apricot jam, followed by a layer of marzipan and then a layer of Royal icing.

Good luck! I hope you enjoy it if you make it and if you do I would love to see a photo or hear what you thought of it!! I shall post a photo of mine when its all iced and gorgeous, but here it is so far ...

Granny Wilsher's Christmas Cake

A promise of a Christmas Cake recipe.

Thank you for all your support, fellow bloggers, after my last post. I absolutely love this aspect of blogging - the community of people from all over the world who appear in your moment of need and leave a friendly word, a hug through the ether. I wrote my last post so that I could go to sleep and when I woke in the morning I discovered my in box full of lovely messages and comments. I can't thank you enough!

I thought that a small way to thank you would be to share my Granny's special Christmas Cake recipe ... no don't laugh!! I was looking through my Mum's "Wilsher Recipe Book" this morning and came across the Christmas Cake recipe. My Mum, some years ago, gave each of us, her 4 children, a notebook with all the family's best recipes written down. Its a brilliant food bible full of memories from childhood ... Wilsher Apple Chutney, Raspberry Steam Pudding, Flat Meat Pie ... and among all these recipes is Granny Wilsher's Christmas Cake recipe.

So ... my plan is to cook it, take photos and then share them on here along with the recipe and instructions so you too can sample Granny's famous cake. Well ... I say famous ... its not really, but its an old family favourite!! Now, I am not a food blogger, but I love cooking and I hope you will like this cake.

I was on Twitter earlier this morning and @AnEssexWife tweeted that she had been dancing around her kitchen with her children as they stirred and baked their Christmas Cake together. It reminded me so much of my childhood memories - warm kitchen, carols on the radio and my mum baking mince pies, making Christmas puddings and Christmas cake. The smell of cinnamon and brandied fruit heavy in the air, candles in the front room and a log fire crackling in the hearth used to make our Christmas magical. I know its a month off, but by giving you this recipe now you will have time to bake.

If you come back tomorrow I promise I will have the recipe, ingredients and photos up. If you are coming later I will post a link on here too!!

And again, thank you for your blogger friendship xxx