In case you lose your recipe card!
I am excited to share that we are offering Christmas Cake Kit bags this festive season. It's something that I've wanted to offer here for a long time, but until this year we haven't stocked flour and sugar. Now, it is finally possible!
You can make the cakes well in advance of the big day and it will store in a container with tight-fitting lid for up to six months. You can also choose to decorate it or feed it every few weeks in the run up, but both are optional!
The kit that we are providing includes all the dried ingredients that you'll need to make your cake and it is all sourced from Earthian Zero Waste Shop so it's organic, high quality and plastic free! As the other ingredients need to be sourced from elsewhere, you have the option to customise it quite easily, whether that is making it vegan or choosing to feed it with something non-alcoholic.
Personally, I made my cake with brewed tea and it worked! Even though it isn't Christmas yet, I had to tuck in and give the recipe a proper test run, it was delicious!
What's in the bag?
You can choose a kit that contains flaked almonds, or one without if you'd prefer just fruit. You can pre-order your cake kit bag up to 3 weeks in advance via our website and collect from the shop on either Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. See below for a link to the pre-order page.
We do provide a printed recipe inside the bag, but just in case it gets lost or you fancy making this cake at another time of year, the recipe can be found here.
Recipe:
Prep time - 50 mins (plus overnight soaking)
Cooking time - 4 - 4.5 hours
Feeds - 10 to 12 people
What is included in the pack/available from Earthian:
1kg organic dried fruit (mix includes raisins, sultanas, cranberries, currants and chopped apricots)
100g organic flaked almonds (optional)
200g organic plain flour
250g organic golden caster sugar
12g mixed spice
What to add at home:
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
150ml of sherry, brandy or brewed tea
250g unsalted butter, plus extra for the tin
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
Method:
Place all the dried fruit, your chosen alcohol or tea, the zest and the juice of the oranges in a bowl. Mix well, cover and leave overnight to soak.
Pre-heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3.
Grease a cake tin with butter and then add a parchment paper lining that comes to around 2cm above the top of the tin. Use either 20cm round, or 18cm square tin.
In a separate bowl, place the butter, sugar and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
Add the eggs one by one and beat each one into the mixture.
Add all the soaked fruit, flour, flaked almonds and mixed spice to the bowl and thoroughly mix it in.
Transfer the mix to your cake tin. Smooth out the top then make a slight indent with your spoon.
Cook in the oven for 1.5 hours.
Remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 140C/120C fan/gas 1.
Cover the cake with foil or a double layer of parchment paper. Then cook for another 2.5 to 3 hours at the lower temperature.
When a skewer can be poked through to the bottom and come out dry it is ready. Let it cool in the cake tin. Then remove the cake, wrap it in parchment paper and store in a sealed container.
Optional: Feed it every few weeks by poking holes in the top with a skewer and dripping more brewed tea, or your chosen alcohol over the cake.
Please note, this cake recipe is not my own creation. Many of the blogs I put up on here with recipes are my own but this is actually a combination of a few different recipes you can find online. I've amended it slightly to ensure I was able to source all the ingredients.
I have also fully tested the recipe at home to make sure it is a brilliant, crowd-pleasing cake!
If you buy one of our cake bags and make the recipe, I'd love to see your cakes and know if you liked the recipe. You can tag us in your cake posts on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Happy baking everyone!
Katie