Going gingerly towards Christmas

This year I decided that it is time to start a new tradition, Towerwater Christmas cake.  The jars of crystallised citrus peel that I made last year got me thinking that I needed to make something special in which I can use them. Deciding on a recipe for fruitcake is not easy because there are so many available.

Candied Ginger Christmas cake

I only needed a basic recipe because I was going to give it a touch of Towerwater. A recipe that was said to be more than 100 years old caught my eye. I thought yes, let me start a new tradition with a traditional dark fruitcake.

Citrus peel and marmalade Christmas cake

Fruitcake reminds me of home and my mom baking a cake with all my favourite flavours. Ginger, citrus peel, green figs and what we now call Makataan (preserved wild watermelon). 

After a shopping expedition to the dried fruit shop in Montagu, I ended up with so many ingredients that I decided to bake two fruitcakes. This is very ambitious for one that has never baked a fruitcake before. The ingredients for fruitcake are very expensive, sometimes difficult to find and I can understand why some supermarkets charge over R50 for a slice of Christmas cake.

Baking Christmas cake is not something you do on a whim. One cannot wake up one morning and decide, I am baking a Christmas cake today. It needs commitment that involves sourcing the ingredients, macerating the fruit mixture in brandy for a day, finding the spices, and finally baking. 

The recipe called for a tube tin but the (un)seasoned baker that I am, I decided that my square tins will be just fine. I will simply bake the cakes for longer. Luckily for me, our friends from Klaasvoogds came over for sushi and MCC. As a surprise, Susan brought a Japanese cheesecake for desert adding to the theme of the meal. I say luckily for me, because between dessert and after dinner drinks, Susan gave me a crash course in the finer art of baking and why recipes ask for a tube tin.

Susan's Japanese Cheesecake

When I was asked to show the tin I was planning to use, I felt like a student that was about to fail a test. Susan assessed my cake tin and immediately explained what I need to do to get a solid fruitcake to bake evenly. With a strip of aluminium foil and towel paper, she showed me how to make an apron for the square tin that will help the cake to bake evenly and not dry out from the sides.

Having averted a possible baking disaster we could relax with a Japanese Miyagikyo Whisky and ginger and lemon chocolates, keeping to the eastern theme of the evening.

In the end, I decided to bake a ginger Christmas cake as well as a citrus peel Christmas cake. Something else that appealed to me in the recipe that I decided to use, is that one uses marmalade in it as well.  What better to give this Christmas cake a real Towerwater twist, than to add Towerwater organic marmalade.

On Saturday morning the kitchen was filled with the aroma of spices and rich crystallised fruit in brandy. So after a whole day of baking, we are the proud owners of two bespoke Christmas cakes. Evenly baked with Susan’s apron of wet towel paper folded in aluminium foil.

I could not resist eating some of the nuts and ginger that I planned to use as decoration after the cakes have matured. The taste of ginger reminds me of Christmas. Eating the crystallised ginger while I admired the two Christmas cakes on the table, I realised that Christmas season has officially started at Towerwater. We are gingerly heading towards Christmas with two cakes well fed with their first sprinkle of brandy.

Towerwater dark Christmas Cake

Ingredients

Fruit Mixture

1kg fruit cake mix (the one with cherries, nuts and citrus peel already added)

125g candied ginger (chopped fine)

250g chopped candied orange peel

125g candied cherries

125g pecan nuts

2 lemons (rind only, finely grated)

1/2 cup orange marmalade

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup brandy

1 teaspoon almond essence

Cake Mixture

2 cups flour (sifted)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

250g butter (or margarine)

1 cup sugar

6 eggs

Method

Place cake mix, ginger, cherries, orange peel, pecan nuts and lemon rind, orange marmalade, lemon juice, brandy, orange juice and almond extract in a large bowl; toss well, cover and let stand overnight at room temperature.

Grease, then line the bottom of a 24cm baking pan with wax paper. Preheat oven to 130°C.

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, allspice, baking powder and salt, and set aside.

Cream butter until light, add sugar gradually, and continue creaming until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add dry ingredients, about 1 cup at a time, beating just to blend.

Mix in the fruit mixture. Spoon batter into the pan. Fold insulation apron of foil and the wet paper towel around the tin. Place on centre rack of oven for even heat distribution. Half fill a roasting pan with water and place on the rack below. Bake uncovered for 4-1/4 hours until cake shrinks slightly from sides of pan and a metal skewer inserted midway between the edge and the centre comes out clean.

Cool cake upright in pan on wire rack for one hour. Carefully turn out, peel off wax paper, turn right-side-up and cool thoroughly. Brush with brandy, wrap in cling wrap and then in foil. Store in an airtight container for 3 weeks to ripen.

Decorate your naked Christmas cake with candied fruits and nuts of your choice.