Easy Simmer and Stir Christmas Cake

Today’s recipe for Easy Simmer and Stir Christmas Cake, is an actual fact the marriage of two cakes I have on Lavender & Lovage already.

Plus a Small Taster Christmas Cake

Today’s recipe for Easy Simmer and Stir Christmas Cake, is an actual fact the marriage of two cakes I have on Lavender & Lovage already.

This fabulous, light and yet richly fruited cake has the same ingredients to 1920’s BeRo Christmas Cake, but is simmered and stirred like Quick and Easy Spice Cake (Tea Loaf).

I don’t think my recipe for 1920’s BeRo Christmas Cake can be bettered, especially as it’s the cake recipe my mother used to make every year, as did her mother (my nanny) before her.

However, as I’m struggling with time this year, due to work and voluntary commitments in our village, I decided to experiment by using the “boiled fruit cake” method.

And, it worked a treat, as you can see from my photos – the cake baked perfectly, and tasted divine, when we tried my small “taster” sample cake for our Sunday Tea Tray.

I love the time I spend in the kitchen on Stir-up-Sunday, weighing, measuring and sifting, but this year, I ran out of time, so this easy method was a real boon.

I’ve fed it already, with whisky this year, as requested by my husband, and it smells fabulously festive already,

The ONLY tweak to the ingredients that I made, was to add the grated zest and juice of an orange, plus two tablespoons of whisky, in place of the milk.

The cake rose and the crumb is fabulous, if the taster cake is anything to go by. The taster cake is a family tradition my mother and nanny used to do.

They both used the BeRo recipe, baking their cakes in a 6″ (15cm) cake tin, round or square, and with the excess cake batter, a little Fray Bentos pie tin was used to bake a “taster”.

I’ve carried on this tradition, with times mentionend in the notes at the end of the main recipe, for those who want to do the same thing.

Please DO let me know if you make this recipe and how you plan to ice and decorate it – it’s a super fruit cake, and so easy to make. Enjoy! Karen

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Notes

• We tend to use a 6″ to 7″ round or square tin, and bake a small “tester or taster cake” with the excess cake batter.
• Taster Cake:
• If using a 6″ or 7″ cake tin, you will have some cake batter left over.
• My mum used to line an old Fray Bentos meatl pie tin with a used butter wrapper, and bake the excess cake batter in the pie tin.
• Bake it in the oven with the main cake for between 30 and 45 minutes.
• Remove and allow to cool before slicing and “tasting” it!
• For a darker and richer cake, use soft brown sugar instead of caster sugar.

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Recipe for Easy Simmer and Stir Christmas Cake

Easy Simmer and Stir Christmas Cake

Yield:
16 slices

Prep Time:
30 minutes

Cook Time:
3 minutes

Total Time:
33 minutes

Today’s recipe for Easy Simmer and Stir Christmas Cake, is an actual fact the marriage of two cakes I have on Lavender & Lovage already.

This fabulous, light and yet richly fruited cake has the same ingredients to 1920’s BeRo Christmas Cake, but is simmered and stirred like Quick and Easy Spice Cake (Tea Loaf).

I don’t think my recipe for 1920’s BeRo Christmas Cake can be bettered, especially as it’s the cake recipe my mother used to make every year, as did her mother (my nanny) before her.

However, as I’m struggling with time this year, due to work and voluntary commitments in our village, I decided to experiment by using the “boiled fruit cake” method.

And, it worked a treat, as you can see from my photos – the cake baked perfectly, and tasted divine, when we tried my small “taster” sample cake for our Sunday Tea Tray.

I love the time I spend in the kitchen on Stir-up-Sunday, weighing, measuring and sifting, but this year, I ran out of time, so this easy method was a real boon.

I’ve fed it already, with whisky this year, as requested by my husband, and it smells fabulously festive already,

The ONLY tweak to the ingredients that I made, was to add the grated zest and juice of an orange, plus two tablespoons of whisky, in place of the milk.

The cake rose and the crumb is fabulous, if the taster cake is anything to go by. The taster cake is a family tradition my mother and nanny used to do.

They both used the BeRo recipe, baking their cakes in a 6″ (15cm) cake tin, round or square, and with the excess cake batter, a little Fray Bentos pie tin was used to bake a “taster”.

I’ve carried on this tradition, with times mentionend in the notes at the end of the main recipe, for those who want to do the same thing.

Please DO let me know if you make this recipe and how you plan to ice and decorate it – it’s a super fruit cake, and so east to make. Enjoy! Karen

Ingredients

• 12 ozs BeRo Self Raising Flour
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 4 ozs ground almonds
• 8ozs currants
• 8ozs sultanas
• 8ozs raisins
• 4ozs glace cherries
• 4ozs mixed citrus peel
• grated zest of one orange
• 8ozs butter
• 8ozs caster sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 6 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons whisky, brandy, rum or sherry

Instructions

1. Grease and line a 6″ to 7″ (15cms to 18cms) square or round cake tin with baking paper. Mix the dried fruit, glace cherries and peel together. Mix the flour, spice, and ground almonds together.

2. Place the butter, sugar, orange zest and orange juice in a large saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat.

3. Add the mixed fruit, glace cherries and peel, and stir well. Then add the whisky (or brandy etc)

4. Allow to cool slightly, before adding the beaten eggs, the spiced flour and ground almonds. Mix well and add a little milk of the mixture is too dry – you want a soft dropping consistency. Pre-heat oven to 150C to 180C/325F to 350F, Gas Mark 3-4.

5. Spoon in to the lined cake tin, smooth the top with the back of a metal spoon before baking in the pre-heated oven, and bake for about THREE and a HALF HOURS, the FIRST HOUR in a moderate oven (180C/350F/Gas Mark 3-4) and then a slow oven (125C/250F/Gas Mark 1-2) Check the cake after THREE hours.

6. Bake until the cake is well-risen and when a skewer is inserted in the middle of the cake, it comes out clean.

7. Allow to cool in the cake tin before lifting out and placing in a cake tin with a fitted lid. Make several holes with a skewer all over the cake and “feed” the cake with brandy (or whisky, sherry or rum) – pouring it down the holes. Repeat this every week until just before you want to marzipan and ice the cake.

Notes

We tend to use a 6″ to 7″ round or square tin, and bake a small “tester or taster cake” with the excess cake batter.

Taster Cake:

If using a 6″ or 7″ cake tin, you will have some cake batter left over.

My mum used to line an old Fray Bentos meatl pie tin with a used butter wrapper, and bake the excess cake batter in the pie tin.

Bake it in the oven with the main cake for between 30 and 45 minutes.

Remove and allow to cool before slicing and “tasting” it!

Metric measurments:

225g currants

225g sultanas

225g raisins

100g glace cherries, halved

100g cut candied peel

350g self-raising white flour, sifted

100g ground almonds

4 large free-range eggs

225g butter, unsalted

225g sugar

For a darker and richer cake, use soft brown sugar instead of caster sugar.

Bake for about THREE and a HALF HOURS, the FIRST HOUR in a moderate oven (180C/350F/Gas Mark 3-4) and then a slow oven (125C/250F/Gas Mark 1-2) Check the cake after THREE hours.

Nutrition Information

Yield 16

Serving Size 1

Amount Per Serving

Calories 445Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 77mgSodium 414mgCarbohydrates 67gFiber 4gSugar 43gProtein 7g

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