Countdown to Christmas Day in on....... O days now, only hours away, but there
is still time to make this delicious cake. This is one of our favourites, it smells
scrumptious, and I promise I only tested 1 nut to make sure they are crunchy!
Night before Christmas Cake
175g unsalted butter, softened
225g brown sugar
275g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
175ml buttermilk
2 eggs
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Grated rind of 1 orange
225g fruit mince
2 tbs brandy
Florentine topping
50g hazelnuts
50g blanched almonds
85g brazil nuts
140g red glace cherries
100g golden syrup
Icing
2/3 cup (100g) icing sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
Method
Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line base of a 20cm springform cake pan. Beat butter and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, sift flour and baking powder and stir into butter mixture with buttermilk and eggs. Stir in rinds with fruit mince and brandy. Spoon into pan and bake for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, for florentine topping, place nuts, cherries and golden syrup in a saucepan and warm over a medium heat. When cake has cooked for 1 hour, remove from oven and spread topping over. Return for a further 15-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
For the icing, mix together sugar and lemon juice, place in a piping bag with a small nozzle and drizzle over cake. Decorate with ribbon, if desired.
