Admit it, you want to be Mary Berry in the kitchen.
While it may seem impossible to conquer the world of layers and soggy bottom bakes, baking perfection is within your reach.
The Great British Bake Off’s Mary Berry shared her ultimate Christmas recipe – and it really is a piece of cake.
October is the time to get prepping if you want to make the perfect Xmas cake.
November 20, traditionally known as Stir Up Sunday, is the time families don their aprons and gather friends around to start soaking the Christmas pudding in booze.
However it is not too late to start making one for Christmas Day! There is no need to to panic if you have missed the traditional date.
Mary Berry said: “I’ve made Christmas cake to this recipe since I have been married – which is 1966.
“It is essential to make it at least three weeks to a month ahead. If you bake and eat it within a couple of days it all crumbles.
"If it is left to mature, it firms up and has a nice neat slice. We have it with tea when we get back from our traditional Christmas Day walk.
"It is also fantastic with a glass of champagne!”
Want to give it a go yourself? Here’s Mary’s step-by-step guide.
Ingredients:
175g (6oz) raisins
350g (12oz) cherries, rinsed, thoroughly dried and quartered
500g (1lb 2oz) currants
350g (12oz) sultanas
150ml (0.25 pint) sherry/brandy, plus extra for feeding
Finely grated zest of two oranges
250g (9oz) butter, softened
250g (9oz) light muscovado sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon black treacle
75g (3oz) blanched almonds, chopped
75g (3oz) self-raising flour
175g (6oz) plain flour
1.5 teaspoons mixed spice
*To finish and decorate
About 3 tablespoons apricot jam, sieved and warmed icing sugar
1 recipe almond paste
1 recipe royal icing
Makes 1 X 23cm (9in) cake.
Grease and line a 23cm (9in) deep round tin with a double layer of greased greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 140C/Fan 120C/Gas Mark 1.
1. Get soaking that fruit
Put all dried fruit in a container, pour over sherry and stir in the orange zest. Cover with lid, and leave to soak for three days, stirring daily.
Mary says: “I take a kilo of currants, raisins and sultanas and put a lot of cherries into it. These cherries are natural ones, so a bit darker.
They have all been cut, washed in warm water and put on kitchen paper and really dried. I like to see the cherries in it.
They look good.
Mary says: “Allow three days for marinating the fruit in sherry. This is essential to plump up and flavour the fruit. If you cut the soaking time there will be surplus liquid which will alter the texture of the cake.
“I use about a quarter of a pint of soaking brandy. Or if you don’t want to use alcohol, you could use the same quantity of orange juice.”
2. Measure everything up
Measure the butter, sugar, eggs, treacle and almonds into a very large bowl and beat well. Add the flours and mixed spice and mix thoroughly until blended.
Mary says: “I like the all-in-one way. I find if you use a tablespoon dipped in warm water the mix will all run off. I leave it mixing until the butter is all one colour.
"It seems awfully odd not to have little people around asking, ‘Can I lick? Can I try?’”
“Stir in the soaked fruit. There is no surplus liquid in the bottom if you’ve soaked it for three days. Less time and there would be a lot of liquid which would make it too slack.
"If you have had the fruit in a cupboard for some time it becomes pretty dry, so soaking it is a good idea. It’s really boozy and smells good.
"Spoon into the prepared cake tin and level the surface.
"When cutting the grease paper, take two pieces and put them together, bend it over, and if you snip along at an angle, it lies flat in the tin when you twist it.”
3. Bake
Bake in the centre of the pre-heated oven for about four hours or until the cake is firm to the touch and a golden brown. If the colour Is perfect after two hours cover it with foil.
A skewer put into the centre of the cake should come out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
Mary says: “If the cake is shrinking away from the side of the tin and it’s a good colour, not burned at the edges, put in a skewer and hope it comes out clean.
"Then turn it upside down on a plate.”
4. How to decorate the cake
Decorate with almond paste, royal icing, and decorative Christmas items. In the past, marzipan was a cooked mixture but now it is uncooked and so is the same as almond paste.
Instead of covering with almond paste and royal icing, you could simply brush sieved warmed apricot jam over the top of the cake, then arrange glacé fruits and nuts over the jam.
Brush again with jam.
You can wrap and store the cake (see step 4) or freeze it before decorating for up to three months – before defrosting at room temperature.
5. Icing the cake
- Covering cake with almond paste
Do this up to three weeks ahead but paste can be left to dry overnight if you are using the royal icing in snow peaks and not flat. Peaks are thick enough to stop the almond paste oil from coming through. Apply paste with rounded edges or, for sharp edges, roll a separate circle and sides.
Put cake upside down, flat-side uppermost, on a cake board which is 5cm (2in) larger than the cake. Brush sides and the top with the warm apricot jam.
- Quick almond pasting
Liberally dust a work surface with icing sugar then roll out the almond paste to about 5cm (2in) larger than the surface of the cake. Keep moving the paste as you roll, checking it’s not sticking to the work surface. Carefully lift the paste over the cake using a rolling pin. Gently level and smooth the top of the paste with the rolling pin then ease the almond paste down the sides of the cake, smoothing it at the same time. Neatly trim excess paste from cake’s base with a small sharp knife. Cover cake loosely with baking parchment and leave for a few days to dry out before icing.
- Almond pasting for flat royal icing
Dust a surface with icing sugar and roll out a third of the paste into a circle slightly larger than the top of the cake. (Use the cake tin as a guide to cut the almond paste to the exact size.) Lift on to cake and smooth over gently with a rolling pin. Neaten the edges. Cut a piece of string the height of the cake plus the circle of paste on top of the cake, and another to fit around the cake. Roll the remaining paste and, using the string as a guide, cut to size. Brush a little more apricot jam on the top edge of the strip as a seal, then roll up the strip loosely, place one end against the side of the cake and unroll to cover the sides completely. Use a small palette knife to smooth over the sides and joins of the paste. Cover the cake loosely with baking parchment and leave for a few days to dry out before icing.
- Icing cake with royal icing
Spread icing evenly over the top and sides with a palette knife. For a peak effect, use a smaller palette knife to rough up icing. For smooth, flat icing, add slightly less icing sugar to the royal icing until it is just the consistency to run gently over the cake with the aid of a palette knife. Leave cake loosely covered overnight for the icing to harden a little, then wrap or store in an airtight container in a cool place.
Extra decoration
Use ribbon, Christmas figures or anything that your family likes.
Almond paste
Ingredients
250g (9oz) ground almonds,
150g (5oz) caster sugar
150g (5oz) icing sugar, sifted
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond essence
1. Mix it up
Mix the ground almonds and sugars in a bowl, add egg and almond essence. Knead with your hands in the bowl to form a stiff paste but don’t over-knead as this will make the paste oily.
2. Clingfilm
Wrap in clingfilm and store in the fridge until required.
Top Tip
Shop-bought ready-made almond paste (marzipan) is easier to manage but the flavour is not as good.
What to do if preparing ahead
Prepare it up to a week ahead, wrap in clingfilm and keep in the fridge. It also freezes well in a sealed polythene bag for up to a month.
Royal icing
Ingredients
Covers a 23cm (9in) cake:
3 egg whites
675g (1.5lb) icing sugar, sifted
3 teaspoons lemon juice
1.5 teaspoons glycerine – this prevents the icing from setting rock-hard. You can find it in small bottles in stores’ baking sections. Chemists sell it too.
1. Whisk away
Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until they become frothy. Mix in the sifted icing sugar a tablespoonful at a time. You can do this with a hand-held electric whisk but keep the speed low.
2. Stiff peaks
Stir in the lemon juice and glycerine and beat the icing until it is very stiff and white and stands up in peaks.
3. Keep it cool
Cover the surface of the icing tightly with cellophane and keep in a cool place until needed.
What to do to prepare ahead
Make it up to two days before. Put in a bowl, cover tightly and keep in cool place.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/christmas-cake-mary-berry-recipe-9496424