One thing we always had every Christmas season was dark christmas cake. Mom would make it early in November and then it went into the cold cellar. She would wrap it and there would massive amounts of it. Every time company came over out came a plate of the cake and a pot of coffee! I'm not even sure I actually liked it that much, but I do remember the cherries. Loved those,,, and the dates.
Billy had a similar memory of his Grampa Bert making the christmas cake. He remembers him soaking it in dark rum or brandy. Now that sounds good.
I do have Mom's recipe but it makes such a huge amount, 3 cake tins. We scoured the Internet for a recipe that we could try that was a reasonable size. Billy said " it has to have lots and lots of cherries". I totally agree:)
This is our first attempt and we are totally happy with the results. Thank you Canadian Living Magazine. We changed just a few of the ingredients, no currants we used dates instead. No walnuts we used pecans instead. One thing we did find is that the baking time in the recipe was not nearly adequate. Our cake in a lasagna size glass dish took almost 2 hours. I kept checking it after 1 hour 15 minutes with a toothpick, till it did come out clean. (checked every 15 minutes).
Ingredients
16 inch square of Cheese cloth - need to soak in a 1/4 cup of rum or brandy
2 cups chopped dates
2 cups candied mixed peel
3 cups red and green halved candied cherries
1 1/2 cup raisins
1 cup brandy or dark rum
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon each - allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg
pinch of salt
3/4 cups soft butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup strawberry jam
2 tablespoons fancy molasses
5 eggs
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Method
Line a 13 x 9 pan with double parchment paper.
In large bowl, combine dates, mixed peel, cherries, raisins and 3/4 cup of the rum or brandy and let stand for 24 hours. Stir occasionally.
Next day in a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Toss 1/2 cup into the candied fruit to coat. Stir.
In a separate big bowl beat the butter and brown sugar and jam and molasses till fluffy. Then beat in 1 egg at a time. Stir in the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Now add the candied fruit into the batter. Stir. Then finally add the pecans. Scrape into a 13 x 9 on the parchment paper.
Fill a separate shallow pan with water, half full . Put into the oven at 300F . It will keep the cake moist as it bakes for the next 2 hours. Bake the cake on the center rack.
You can lay foil over the top of the cake if it appears to be browning too much... ours did not.
Check for toothpick to come out clean, other wise bake and check every 10 mins. I wondered if it would ever bake and it finally did.
Let the cake cool in the pan - completely. Takes a while as the cake is very dense.
Remove the cake from the parchment paper.
Take the soaking cheesecloth and wrap around the entire cake. Then wrap with plastic wrap. Again wrap with Aluminum foil and store in fridge. Can refrigerate for 1 month.
We waited 1 day! It was still awesome. Then we cut 4 inch squares for gifts as the 2 weeks of christmas went by. We had great reviews. Mom's friends at her table were very impressed as they all made it every year.
Billy had a similar memory of his Grampa Bert making the christmas cake. He remembers him soaking it in dark rum or brandy. Now that sounds good.
I do have Mom's recipe but it makes such a huge amount, 3 cake tins. We scoured the Internet for a recipe that we could try that was a reasonable size. Billy said " it has to have lots and lots of cherries". I totally agree:)
This is our first attempt and we are totally happy with the results. Thank you Canadian Living Magazine. We changed just a few of the ingredients, no currants we used dates instead. No walnuts we used pecans instead. One thing we did find is that the baking time in the recipe was not nearly adequate. Our cake in a lasagna size glass dish took almost 2 hours. I kept checking it after 1 hour 15 minutes with a toothpick, till it did come out clean. (checked every 15 minutes).
Ingredients
16 inch square of Cheese cloth - need to soak in a 1/4 cup of rum or brandy
2 cups chopped dates
2 cups candied mixed peel
3 cups red and green halved candied cherries
1 1/2 cup raisins
1 cup brandy or dark rum
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon each - allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg
pinch of salt
3/4 cups soft butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup strawberry jam
2 tablespoons fancy molasses
5 eggs
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Method
Line a 13 x 9 pan with double parchment paper.
In large bowl, combine dates, mixed peel, cherries, raisins and 3/4 cup of the rum or brandy and let stand for 24 hours. Stir occasionally.
Next day in a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Toss 1/2 cup into the candied fruit to coat. Stir.
In a separate big bowl beat the butter and brown sugar and jam and molasses till fluffy. Then beat in 1 egg at a time. Stir in the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Now add the candied fruit into the batter. Stir. Then finally add the pecans. Scrape into a 13 x 9 on the parchment paper.
Fill a separate shallow pan with water, half full . Put into the oven at 300F . It will keep the cake moist as it bakes for the next 2 hours. Bake the cake on the center rack.
You can lay foil over the top of the cake if it appears to be browning too much... ours did not.
Check for toothpick to come out clean, other wise bake and check every 10 mins. I wondered if it would ever bake and it finally did.
Let the cake cool in the pan - completely. Takes a while as the cake is very dense.
Remove the cake from the parchment paper.
Take the soaking cheesecloth and wrap around the entire cake. Then wrap with plastic wrap. Again wrap with Aluminum foil and store in fridge. Can refrigerate for 1 month.
We waited 1 day! It was still awesome. Then we cut 4 inch squares for gifts as the 2 weeks of christmas went by. We had great reviews. Mom's friends at her table were very impressed as they all made it every year.
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