{"id":23152,"date":"2016-10-19T13:40:28","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T12:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=23152"},"modified":"2016-10-17T13:51:19","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T12:51:19","slug":"years-christmas-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/10\/years-christmas-cake\/","title":{"rendered":"This Year’s Christmas Cake"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was back from our activity weekend<\/a> by mid afternoon on Sunday. I therefore had plenty of time to unpack, was things out and then do some chores. Tidying the house a little, cleaning out the fishtank and then as Anna cooked dinner I made a start on this years Christmas Cake. Yep, it’s that time of year folks. Time to start making huge fruit cakes that you’ll struggle to finish off in a couple of months time.<\/p>\n

I decided to try out a different recipe this year. A slightly smaller cake without the need to soak the fruit overnight first. Instead, it was a simmer and stir Christmas Cake. This meant that I soon had loads of lovely dried fruit simmering away in a mixture of brandy, butter and sugar to form a gloriously rich, glossy mix. The house was already beginning to smell of fruit cake.<\/p>\n

\"Simmering<\/a>

Simmering glossy fruit<\/p><\/div>\n

The toasted pecans, eggs, flour, baking powder and a selection of lovely Christmas spices were added to this and mixed in and then it was placed in the oven.<\/p>\n\n\t\t