Creole Christmas Cake

I know I'm in a minority these days but I am a big fan of Christmas cake. When I was younger Mum would have bought slabs of "iced fruit cake" through the year for me, not just at Christmas. Last year I made my first ever Christmas Cake using Mum's Christmas Cake recipe. I watched Delia's Christmas Special a few weeks ago and loved the look of her Creole Christmas Cake and decided I just had to try it. It takes a good bit of time seeing as the dried fruits are to steep in the alcohol for a week! Then the baking takes 3 hours and after that there's the extra "feeding" but that's only if you want more alcohol in it!



It's a truly delicious cake - I was excited to try it from the moment it came out of the oven but I was good and waited to steal a few crumbs when it was taken out of the tin!

Creole Christmas Cake

Ingredients

For the pre-soaking
3 tbsp dark rum
3 tbsp brandy
3 tbsp port
3 tbsp cherry brandy I added an extra tbsp of rum, brandy and port instead
1½ tsp Angostura bitters Left this out - couldn't find it!
½ level tsp ground cinnamon
½ level tsp ground nutmeg
½ level tsp ground cloves
½ level tsp salt
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 level tbsp molasses sugar
2 oz (50 g) glacé cherries, chopped
1 lb (450 g) raisins
4 oz (110 g) pitted no-soak prunes, chopped I used sultanas instead
8 oz (225 g) currants
4 oz (110 g) mixed candied peel
2 oz (50 g) mixed chopped nuts

For the cake:
9 oz (250 g) self-raising flour
9 oz (250 g) demerara sugar
9 oz (250 g) butter, at room temperature
5 large eggs

Recipe
1. Mix together the fruits, spices, salt, vanilla, molasses and alcohol and store in a container for a week. Give the container a shake every now and again during this time.



2. Preheat the oven to 275˚F (140˚C) when you're ready to bake.
3. Measure out the flour, sugar and butter into a very large bowl and mix together.
4. Add and mix in the eggs one at a time.
5. Gradually stir in the dried fruit mixture until all is combined.
6. Pour into a greased and lined 9" round tin, then bake in the oven for 3 hours.
7. Leave to cool for 45mins in the tin then once cool wrap in greaseproof paper and foil and in an airtight container.
8. If you're wanting to "feed" the cake pierce a few holes in the cake and pour a little brandy into each one, repeat once a week for 4 weeks.


If you're decorating the traditional way, spread apricot glaze over the cake then cover with marzipan, dampen the marzipan a little and cover with white icing.



For more Christmas recipes see
Jamie's Mince Pies
Traditional Mince Pies
Ginger Glazed Gammon/Ham
Sage, Sausage and Apricot Stuffing
Christmas Roast veggies

Daring Bakers 21: Gingerbread House

I'm late..... again.... with my Daring Bakers post for this month, but I only just got it finished. This month the challenge was a Christmassy one in that we had to make a Gingerbread House!

I have to admit I had a few problems with this one. There were two different recipes to work from for this, I thought I'd save reading any further and just do the first one, but ended in disaster for me because the dough ended up way too dry and I still had more flour to add! I asked my fellow DBers for advice and was told to add a little milk or water until it comes together so I gave it a go but it just didn't want to mix, I ended up with firm clumps swimming in milk, so that was off to the bin. I read on and tried out the second recipe which worked much better this time, but did need extra water to bring it together too, but not much and I think it turned out well in the end.....



... I'm rather proud of my little piece of architecture, but to be honest not sure a Wicked Witch would feel safe living in it.

PS I halved this recipe to make a smaller house, I also only used half the dough on the house and made gingerbread "cookies" with the rest.

Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)

Recipe

from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas

1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.

2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.

3. Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.

4. [I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.]

5. Preheat the oven to 375'F (190'C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

Simple Syrup: I skipped this part and glued it all together using the icing
2 cups (400g) sugar

Place in a small saucepan and heat until just boiling and the sugar dissolves. Dredge or brush the edges of the pieces to glue them together. If the syrup crystallizes, remake it.

Royal Icing:

1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.





The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Daring Bakers 20: Cannoli

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged, and a little over the due date for this DB entry but things have been rather busy blah de blah... but I'm here now with the latest Daring Bakers recipe - cannolis! The problem with my cannolis is that I don't have cannoli tubes so I ended up doing flat versions which turned out to be quite puffy....



..... but very tasty layered with whipped cream mixed with sliced strawberries, chopped pecan nuts and chocolate chips

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.






CANNOLI SHELLS

Ingredients
2 cups (250 grams/16 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners' sugar

Note - If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.


Cannoli shell preparation, cutting out the dough circles, sealing the dough around the form, frying the shells, finished shells ready to fill


For stacked cannoli:
1. Heat 2-inches of oil in a saucepan or deep sauté pan, to 350-375°F (176 - 190 °C).

2. Cut out desired shapes with cutters or a sharp knife. Deep fry until golden brown and blistered on each side, about 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from oil with wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, then place on paper towels or bags until dry and grease free. If they balloon up in the hot oil, dock them lightly prior to frying. Place on cooling rack until ready to stack with filling.