Contemporary Cake Designs – Christmas Cake
With the winter nights looming and the cold weather blossoming it only means one thing – Christmas is on the horizon.
Christmas is one of our favourite occasions of the year here at Contemporary Cake Designs and there’s nothing more perfect than tucking into a brandy filled Christmas Cake.
So with Christmas being a time for sharing, we thought we’d slice you a piece our baking expertise by giving you our top ten tips on how to get the best out of your Christmas cake this year:
- Try and bake your Christmas cake 4 to 6 weeks before hand and you will find that the longer you are able to keep it after cooking the moister the cake will become.
- Soak the dried fruit overnight in a little brandy. Use one dessert spoon for each pound of fruit.
- Take care when lining the tin. Fit the greaseproof into the corners carefully for a good shape
- Bake your cake on a low temperature until knife comes out clean.
- When the cake is cold sprinkle over more brandy to help your cake retain its moisture. (Go on! Treat yourself, it’s Christmas)
- Wrap the cake in greaseproof paper and foil, and store in a cool dry place. If you like, feed again, a week later, with the brandy
- Trim the top of the cake to become flat and turn cake over before covering
- Use boiled apricot jam to coat the cake and allow marzipan to stick well. This will also act as a good preservative for the cake
- For easier cutting royal icing beat icing until light and fluffy. Add one teaspoon of glycerine to each 1lb(500g) of icing. Use dried egg white-based powder if you want to avoid raw egg white.
- Use roll out icing for a quicker easier cake covering. Roll out on icing sugar. Brush marzipanned cake with a little brandy, lay over the rolled out icing. Smooth the top and sides of the cake with your hands or a special smoother.
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