It's Time to Prepare the Christmas Cake

If you want to make an impression this Christmas, or want a challenge, making the perfect Christmas Cake is definitely a great way to impress. Now you may wonder why we're writing a post about Christmas Cake in the middle of November, but the truth is, Christmas Cake needs time to rest for up to three months and you need to feed the cake at intervals throughout this time with brandy. It's more complicated than you think!

The Christmas Cake ingredients:

Currants
Sultanas
Raisins
Glace Cherries, rinsed, dried and quartered
Dried apricots, snipped into pieces
Candied peel finely chopped
Brandy, plus extra for feeding the cake
Plain flour
Nutmeg
Ground mixed spice
Softened butter
Muscovado sugar
Eggs
Almonds
Black Trecle
Lemon zest
Orange zest

To prepare the cake:

1. Put the currants, sultanas, raisins, rinsed, dried and quartered cherries, snipped apricots and chopped mixed peel in a large bowl. Stir in the brandy, cover the bowl and leave in a cool place overnight.
2. Lightly grease a 23cm/9 in deep round cake tin. Cut a strip of non-stick baking parchment to fit twice around the sides of the tin, fold the bottom edge of the strip up by about 2.5cm/1 in creasing it firmly, then open out the fold and cut slanting lines into this narrow strip at intervals. Put a circle of non-stick baking parchment into the base of the tin, lightly grease the outer edge and then fit the prepared strip of parchment with the snipped edge in the base of the tin to line the sides of the tin. Place a second circle of non-stick baking parchment in to cover the cut part of the paper. Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas 1.
3. Put the flour, grated nutmeg, mixed spice, butter, sugar, eggs, chopped almonds, black treacle and the citrus zest into a large bowl and beat well to mix thoroughly. Fold in the soaked fruits.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and spread out evenly with the back of a spoon. Decorate the top with the whole blanched almonds and glacé cherries, pushing them lightly into the top of the cake mixture. Cover the top of the cake loosely with a double layer of greaseproof paper. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 4¼-4 ¾ hours, or until the cake feels firm to the touch and a skewer inserted

Remember to let the cake rest and feed it with brandy in intervals up till Christmas!

 

Find Mary Berry's recipe here.

 

 

 

Midweek Blues

Have you got the midweek blues? Well not to worry! We have a great recipe that will fill your tummy with delicious tastes and ingredients! What better way to get over the midweek blues than with a hearty Irish stew, a warm and cosy recipe for this Wednesday evening!

Hearty and wholesome, this stew tastes great, the ingredients you'll need:

3lb 5oz stewing beef that is cut into cubes
175g streaky bacon
3tbsp of olive oil
12 baby onions that are peeled
18 button mushrooms - leave them whole
3 carrots, cut them into quarters
salt and black pepper
1 tbsp. of chopped thyme
2 tbsp. of chopped parsley
10 cloves of garlic, crushed and grated
425ml of red wine
425ml of chicken or beef stock

To make the stew:

1. Brown the beef and bacon in the olive oil in a hot casserole dish or heavy saucepan.
2. Remove the meat and toss in the onions, mushrooms and carrots, one ingredient at a time, seasoning each time.
3. Place these back in the casserole, along with the herbs and garlic.
4. Cover with red wine and stock and simmer for one hour or until the meat and vegetables are cooked.
5. To make the roux, in a separate pan melt the butter, add the flour and cook for two minutes.
6. When the stew is cooked, remove the meat and vegetables.
7. Bring the remaining liquid to the boil and add one tbsp of roux.
8. Whisk the mixture until the roux is broken up and the juices have thickened, allowing to boil.
9. Replace the meat and vegetables, and taste for seasoning.
10. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve with champ.
 

Find the full recipe here, as well as other hearty stews

Halloween Treats!

A great way to get the kids involved with something fun and creative this Halloween is by getting in the kitchen and cooking up a storm!

You can't go wrong with a spooky Halloween cupcake, which are bound to delight the little kids as well as the big kids! Decorating the cupcakes are a fun afternoon activity for the kids to keep them entertained!

These spooky spider cupcakes are easy to make and fun to decorate! Find the recipe for the cupcakes here.

 

And to decorate the cupcakes you will need:

 

2 packs of liquorice Catherine wheels

12 tbsp. Nutella or other chocolate spread

Liquorice allsorts (the black ones with the white centre)

tube of black writing icing

1 length of red bootlace

 

To decorate the cakes: unravel the liquorice wheels and cut into lengths to make the dangly legs, let the kids get creative and stick the legs onto the top of each cake.

 

Spoon the chocolate spread on top and spread lightly within the liquorice legs to make the spiders body! Now cut the allsorts to make the eyes and the red bootlaces to make mouths! Let the kids stick everything onto the cupcake and make different spooky creations they will love to eat!

Another great Halloween treat is these Eerie Eyeballs, which are a healthy option for kids this Halloween! Made from apple rings, dried apricots and raisins they will be a fun addition to Halloween and the kids can have fun making them. Find out how to make these here!

Have fun this Halloween creating fun and exciting treats for the family!