Making an 18th century Rich Cake for Christmas

Sadly I missed 'Stir-Up Sunday' this year, and now with only two weeks to Christmas I am belatedly making our Christmas cake! I usually make my mum's delicious boiled fruit cake, but I saw the recipe for a delicious 18th century Christmas cake via Colonial Williamsburg  and decided to give it a try.

It is indeed a rich cake, a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, flour, then expensive spices, port and sherry, currents, lemon and orange peel.

 The first task is to cream 1lb of butter into a 1lb of sugar! Now I normally make cakes by hand with my bowl and wooden spoon, but this was too much creaming for me so I enlisted my old, but trusty, food processor to be my kitchen helper.

This was then added to my big mixing bowl

Next you add the eggs and mix them all together, after that the flours, spices and then the fruit which had been soaked in mulled wine and brandy for a week.

Then everyone got a chance to stir the batter and make their Christmas wish.

Then I baked it for over an hour in a slow oven, 170oC, it smelt divine as it cooked!

I forgot to take photos of it right out of the oven, but I let it completely cool, wrapped it in alfoil, poured more brandy over it and have tucked it into the fridge to mature. Sadly it should have a good two months, not two weeks, but it will still be delicious. I will decorate it on Christmas Eve and take some pictures then, so watch this space ...

I wish you a very Merry Christmas, thank you for your wonderful comments and friendship over the last 12 months. 

I hope your holiday season is filled with happiness and joy and that you commence your New Year with a keenness to enjoy your historical costuming!