Christmas cake

I watched a video of Kirstie & Phil's Perfect Christmas last Thursday, and was inspired to make their 'Last Minute Christmas Cake' which Kirstie said could be made up to Christmas Eve - sounded perfect!

I went out and bought the missing ingredients [some blackstrap molasses, glacé cherries, string and a skewer] on Friday.

I was so tempted to make it then, but wanted it to be a surprise for David [hence why I am only posting about it now], so had to wait till Monday.

It took me so long to actually assemble the ingredients into a finished (pre-baked) cake, that I followed another piece of advice from the TV program: 'you can leave it in the tin for a few hours or even overnight before baking it'...

There's nothing like a red-hot cake cooling on a rack and the smell of baking to give the game away!

I was so glad that I did; the cake, instead of taking the three hours on the programme, took five and a half hours to bake!

I still wasn't convinced at the end that it was done, but was terrified to leave it any longer; despite covering the tin with brown paper, the top was getting very dark, and the outer parts of the cake had been cooked for over two hours, according to the 'skewer test'.

But the middle still wasn't producing a "clean" skewer.

However the bit adhering to the skewer were looking like cake, rather than cake mix, so I called it a day.

I think the bit I enjoyed most was pouring the calvados [couldn't find apple brandy, and it's virtually the same thing] over a cake fresh from the oven; it made a satisfying sizzling sound and smelled delicious!

I wasn't convinced it was fully cooled by the time David got home, so hid it on the cooling rack on a cleared shelf in my wardrobe [standard hiding place, but the first time I've had food secreted there!].

So that brings us up to Wednesday morning, and I couldn't resist adding another three tablespoons of calvados [in case any of the previous six had evaporated] before wrapping it up in greaseproof paper and foil and putting it in the tin [which I then hid in a box to bring with us].

The only alterations I made to the recipe were:

1) I used molasses as I couldn't buy any black treacle

2) I added a teaspoon of ground ginger, and half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and two teaspoons of vanilla extract as 1 teaspoon of mixed spice and half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg really did not seem enough spice

3) I added an extra three tablespoons of calvados when the cake was cooled, and the calvados was in substitute for apple brandy

By yesterday evening I couldn't hold out any longer, so we had a piece each [think of it as an alternative birthday cake, and that sounds better!], and it was gorgeous: really moist, cooked but not overcooked and not too dark.

The only change I would make [I think criticism is too strong a word] would be to add more spice the next time: it was barely-spiced rather than nicely-spiced, if you can imagine what I mean.

Oh, and I might try harder to remember to bring the sherry...

You don't seem to be able to find it here in France.

Altogether, though, a roaring success, and although time-consuming, not difficult enough to put me off making one much earlier next year!