Messy Kids do Christmas!
This is an entry into Two Little Fleas Messy Kids Competition.
Last year was the first year that I made a Christmas cake. Don’t get me wrong I’ve baked cakes before such as cupcakes, madeira cakes, sponge cakes, but I’d never baked a Christmas cake before.
Luckily I was sent a Christmas cook book which had an easy recipe in so I thought I’d give it a go. It turned out rather well I thought…
What do you think?
This year I’ve decided to let our twins help me make our cake! I felt more confident in my abilities to bake a Christmas cake this year after the success of last years, so I thought it would be a lot of fun for us all to do it together!
My mum always used to make a Christmas cake every year when I was little and it’s a tradition that I’d like to continue with my own children. Granted my cake isn’t anywhere near as good as my mums used to be, but it’s not far off!
To make your cake you will need:
Two little people willing to get a bit messy!
An 8” round cake tin
Greaseproof paper
Cling film
200g Caster sugar
4 Eggs
224g Butter
225g Plain Flour
150g raisins
125g stoned, dried dates, chopped
125g sultanas
100g glace cherries, rinsed
150ml brandy
Grated rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon
1 tbsp black treacle
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
This cake is nut-free as I have a nut allergy, but you can of course almonds etc if you want!
I’d also recommend baking your Christmas cake with a friend. The reason being is that if you buy a bag of raisins, pot of black treacle and baking powder etc, you’ll end up with a lot left over and if you’re not planning on using it, you can share it with a friend! My sister used my left over ingredients for her Christmas cake.
The first thing you’ll need to do is soak your fruit in the brandy overnight. Best to do this yourself as brandy and little people don’t go together very well!
R and M were very keen to help me bake our Christmas cake. I think I’ll need to buy them some aprons and chef hats for Christmas! They excitedly climbed into their chairs in our kitchen and strapped themselves in. I gave R an orange to hold and M had a lemon.
After I’d managed to convince them not to chew the orange and lemon I pre-heated my oven to 110c/225f/Gas mark ¼!
We started off by pouring the caster sugar and butter into a bowl and then mixed them together until they were of a fluffy consistency. M got a bit over excited and decided to throw her lemon into the bowl at this point!
Next up you’ll need to beat in your eggs into the mixture one by one.
I gave R an egg and she helped me to gently tapped it on the side of a bowl before I cracked it open and poured it into our mixture. M helped me to crack the next egg and we continued this way until all four eggs had been beaten into the mixture.
It’s probably a good idea to do a little preparation before you start making your cake, but I didn’t!
In hindsight if I’d grated the lemon and orange beforehand it would have saved some time as R and M both wanted to help me do this! Anyway, once you’ve grated your lemon and orange add the rind into your mixture and stir in along with the treacle.
Be warned black treacle is very sticky! I did this part myself!
Next, you’ll need to sift the flour and then add it to a separate bowl along with the salt, baking powder and mixed spice. You’ll then need to fold it into the egg mixture.
This part was a lot of fun and also very messy!
Lastly fold in the soaked fruit and brandy then spoon the mixture into the cake tin.
Bake in the preheated oven for at least 3 hours. If it browns too quickly cover it with foil. The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Once cooled wrap in greaseproof paper, then cling film and store in an airtight container.
To help keep your cake moist, feed it with brandy each week. You won’t be able to taste it, but it’ll help keep the cake moist.
I’ve decided to do a Frozen themed Christmas cake this year!
I’ve also put together a Pinterest board of Christmas cake decorations to help inspire you!
Follow Twinmumanddad’s board Christmas Cake Ideas 2014 on Pinterest.
9 Comments
Beth Twinderelmo
October 14, 2014 at 6:40 pm
Wow looks fab! Good luck x
Emily
October 14, 2014 at 9:51 pm
Thanks Beth x
Hannah Igoe
October 15, 2014 at 11:54 am
Fab cake and its great that you have two little helpers!
BakedPotatoMummy
October 16, 2014 at 10:24 am
Love this! What a wonderful tradition to start with your little ones. I've never tried making my own Christmas cake. My great aunt always used to make ours. Perhaps we'll give it a go this year.
Thanks you for linking up with #LittleChefs
Le Coin de Mel
October 16, 2014 at 11:32 pm
Your Christmas cake looks amazing! I think it is fab you are letting your little ones do that much. Yes, it is messy, but being able to cook is such a great skill. #Little Chefs
Shannon
October 17, 2014 at 7:33 pm
The cake looks great and it looks like everyone had a great time making it! A wonderful tradition. 🙂 #PoCoLo
Victoria Welton
October 17, 2014 at 11:19 pm
I love the look of that cake – and I can't wait to see how your Frozen theme turns out. Good luck with the competition (one of your photos looks like my kitchen when I cook!!). Thank you for linking to PoCoLo :)x
Sara Murray
October 22, 2014 at 10:07 pm
Fabulous! I made mince pies for the first time last year, planning on trying my hand at a Christmas cake this year 🙂 #MiniCreations
kid GL loves
October 28, 2014 at 7:13 am
Lucas says – I LOVE that you're already thinking about Christmas. You're a very organised Mother – I think you need to have a word with mine! Yummy cake. Thanks for linking up to #minicreations