It’s countdown to Christmas time. Loosen your waistband as we present a recipe for a foolproof Christmas cake you can create now.

Preparation is all, so now is the time to start planning your Christmas menu. Don’t get stressed by all the hype surrounding the big day as you are meant to enjoy it – honest!

One of the first goodies you have to create is a Christmas cake and with a little help from a newly-revised book from the Good Food magazine team, you have a perfect recipe for a moist and fruity delight which we reprint here.

The book, published by BBC Books, teams up Mary Cadogan, deputy editor of the Good Food magazine, with some of television’s top chefs – Ainsley Harriott, Gary Rhodes, Antonio Carluccio and Anthony Worrall Thompson.

Recipes include everything from a vegetarian alternative, a Boxing Day soup using left-over turkey, a chocolate Christmas pudding, various canapes, a cranberry sauce and much more. There are ideas on how to get ahead – what dishes you can cook in the relative calm leading up to the great event plus menu suggestions.


MOIST AND FRUITY CHRISTMAS CAKE
This cake keeps for up to three months – made now, it will be in perfect shape by Christmas. Fabulously moist and buttery, it’s packed with all the wonderful Christmassy fruits and spices – not to mention the alcohol (if you want a non-alcoholic cake, replace the brandy or sherry with the same amount of orange or apple juice). The mixture is made in a saucepan which saves on washing up.

For the cake mix
225g/8oz butter, chopped, plus extra for greasing
300g/10oz dark muscovado sugar
2 x 500g bags luxury mixed dried fruit
Finely grated rind and juice of 1 orange
Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
125ml/4fl oz brandy or sherry
100g packet of whole blanched almonds
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
100g packet of ground almonds
300g/10z plain flour
½tsp baking powder
1tsp mixed spice
1tsp ground cinnamon
½tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Bring to the boil
Put the butter, sugar, dried fruit, citrus rinds and juices, and brandy or sherry in a large pan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the butter has melted, then reduce the heat and let it bubble gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Prepare the tin
Meanwhile cut a double-thickness strip of greaseproof paper 5cm/2in deeper than your cake tin and long enough to wrap around the tin with a slight overlap. Make a 2.5cm/1in crease along the long folded edge, then snip the paper up to the crease at regular intervals. Cut two rounds or squares of paper to fit the base of the tin (draw around the tin with a pencil on to double-thickness paper, then cut along the pencil line). Grease the tin, then line the base with one piece of paper. Grease the paper then fit the long strip of paper around the sides with the snipped edge flat on the base of the tin. Grease the paper and fit the second piece of paper over the top.

Heat the oven
Pre-heat the oven to 150C/Gas 2; fan oven: cook from cold at 130C.

Toast the almonds
Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool for about 30 minutes. Toast the whole almonds in a dry frying pan, tossing them until they are evenly browned (this helps to bring out the flavour). When cool enough to handle, chop them roughly. Stir the eggs, and the chopped and ground almonds, into the cooled fruit mixture and mix well.

Add the flour
Set a sieve over the pan and sift the flour, baking powder and spices into the pan. Stir in gently but thoroughly until there are no traces of flour left.

Spread the mixture
Spoon the mixture into the tin and spread it out evenly.
Dip a large metal spoon into boiling water, then smooth over the cake mixture to level.

Bake the cake
Bake for one hour, then reduce the heat to 140C/Gas 1/fan oven 120C and bake for a further 2-2½ hours until the cake is dark golden and firm to touch. Cover the top with foil if it starts to darken too much.

Test if its ready
To see if the cake is ready, inset a fine skewer into the centre – if it comes out clean the cake is cooked. If it is not cooked, return to the oven for 15 minutes, then test again. Repeat until the cake is cooked. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. Wrap in double-thickness greaseproof paper, then overwrap in foil.