Time to hunt out the Christmas Cake recipe...

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Yep, with an approaching half term, it's time to make the Christmas cake...

marathon shopping trip, sitting picking over the fruit whilst watching TV (I hate crunching on stones) and then soaking the fruit overnight before getting up early to make sure everything is ready and prepared for that 5-6 hours in the oven... Added complication this year; I don't have an oven but that is less complicated than last year when I was on tour, and this cake is too heavy to tour with... MMUUUMMMM....

all I need do now, is re-find the recipe. When we sold everything to go on tour, the recipe was the only one in a certain book, so the page was removed and "put safe". The dreaded words in our household...

 

[penguinking9]

This is why we have The Recipes Book.

A ring bound note book into which we put any recipe we find that works well for us, complete with where the recipe originally came from, plus any notes on how we've changed it since it went in the book.

It's got the Spirit of Christmas Cake recipe in there (from a Christmas card sent out by the Portmerrion Collectors club umpteen years ago), the Christmas pud' recipe, the chilli con carne spice mix, and madras curry spice mix.

Then there's all the pastry recipes that actually work and scones.

It's also got a couple of recipes that we've deduced from the ingredients list on products we liked, so we've got the sticky toffee pudding recipe based on the ingredients list on the Cartmel pack, and the (based on) Fudges flapjacks.

The next one to go in, after months of faffing about experimenting with adding egg white or not, using beer or not etc, is the fish batter recipe. (about 100g chilled plain flour, about 200ml chilled soda water and about a tsp of baking powder, mix at the last minutes and fry at 185C, or in our case after the chips have come out of the chip pan and gone into the oven to keep warm )

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

This is why we have The Recipes Book.

A ring bound note book into which we put any recipe we find that works well for us, complete with where the recipe originally came from, plus any notes on how we've changed it since it went in the book....

yep - used to have 4 of them, but when we sold everything, just about everything was sold/given away. we kept very little - possible too little really, always assumed we could easily start again... we scanned recipes that were still valid, so now I have a computer full of recipes instead - also easier because it meant they came on the world tour with us. But for some reason the Christmas cake recipe was never scanned. I know I have seen it since we returned, but now need to have another attempt at finding it... and the clock is ticking..

 

[penguinking9]

Try The Drawer.

You know the one.

It'll have fuses, glasses repair kits and rubber bands in it

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Try The Drawer.
You know the one.
It'll have fuses, glasses repair kits and rubber bands in it

close.... have located in now though - and scanned it to add to that collection... nearly 300 items in the scanned recipe collection so far...

so now to get the items purchased (eeks - always a biggie) and book time in my mothers oven... but I can honestly say I won't be cycling to her house (21 miles each way) with all of those ingredients. this cake is not lightweight. (We always used to eat it dug into a snow drift on top of some mountain somwhere on Christmas day, wedge of cake in one hand (and often with a slice of wensleydale on it) and a mug of coffee in the other - heaven).

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Just been informed by my mother, that I am making 3 of these cakes this year, payment for using one of her 4 ovens!
1 for me, 1 for her and her husband and 1 for my Grandfather (who will beon his 3rd Christmas without my Grannie)... just hoping I'm not paying for it all...(£25-£30 per cake). Boy is the kitchen going to get hot with 3 of the 4 ovens on for 5 hours!

 

[Arch]

BTW, your tip of having food cans to bake mini cakes in is a good one. I did this one year and made a mini cake for each of the family - it was ideal for my Grandma for example, who'd never get through a while big cake. And the tins are free!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

BTW, your tip of having food cans to bake mini cakes in is a good one. I did this one year and made a mini cake for each of the family - it was ideal for my Grandma for example, who'd never get through a while big cake. And the tins are free!

these are 2 sweetcorn tin christmas cakes for my grandfather... perfect sized for 1 or 2 people...