Christmas Cake Recipes

Boiled Fruit Cake by Jules' Mum
Ingredients and Instructions:
3 cups fruit
1 tsp Bicarb
4 ounces of butter
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups water
Place all these ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for 25 minutes Stirring to prevent burning.

ALLOW TO COOL and ADD:
2 cups flour
1 large egg
1 heaped tsp baking powder
Mix thoroughly. Place in a greased deep pan cake tin and bake at 170 C for 1 ½ hours



SpideyClaire's Recipe
1lb plain flour
2tsp baking powder
2tsp mixed spice
12 oz chopped glace cherries
2lb 6 oz dried fruits (apricots, plums, raisins, cranberries, sultanas and so on)
1lb dark sugar
7 eggs
5oz chopped nuts
1lb butter at room temperature, cubed
1 large glass brandy or sherry
pinch of salt

Soak the fruit in the alcohol and leave overnight stirring occasionally.

When ready to begin grease and line two round tins. Preheat the oven to 170 deg C.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix.
Sieve the flour, salt, spice and baking powder together. Add gently to the mixture.
Add the fruit, nuts and alcohol dregs and stir with a wooden spoon until a thick consistency.
Spoon into the tins.
Bake for 30 minutes at 170 deg C. Reduce the heat to 140 deg C and bake for 4 hrs 15mins- 4hrs 45 mins until a skewer comes out clean.
Cover during cooking if the top starts to brown.

Allow to cool for an hour in the tins before turning out. Wrap in greaseproof paper and clingfilm and feed with alcohol once a week.

Banana Bread

Ingredients

225g/8oz self-raising flour
100g/4oz butter
150g/5oz caster sugar
450g/1lb bananas (the softer the better), peeled and mashed
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
175g/6oz mixed dried fruit

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Mix all the of the ingredients except the dried fruit together. You can do this in a food processor or by hand in a mixing bowl.
3. When the ingredients are all thoroughly combined, fold in the dried fruit.
4. Spoon the batter mixture into a 1kg/2lb non-stick loaf tin, spread it out evenly and bake it for one and a half hours. (NB. Oven temperatures vary so the banana bread may not need the full one and a half hours to cook through. Check the progress of the banana bread regularly to make sure it is not burning. If the top of the loaf is browning too quickly, but a skewer inserted into the centre does not come out clean, cover the loaf with aluminium foil and continue cooking until a skewer pushed into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.)
5. When the banana bread has risen, golden-brown on top and cooked through, remove it from the oven and set aside to cool on a wire rack. Slice before serving.

Turkey Meatloaf

• 500g free range turkey mince -
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped -
• 1 onion, finely chopped -
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, and grated -
• 1 free range egg, beaten -
• 50g oatmeal -
• 1 low salt vegetable stock cube, finely crumbled -
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce -
• 1tbsp vegetable oil -
• 500g baby new potatoes -
• 25g butter -
• 1tbsp garlic puree -
• 200g frozen sweetcorn -

Fry the pepper and half the onion in a little oil until softened. In a mixing bowl, combine pepper, onion, and uncooked onion with the rest of the meatloaf ingredients, plus a dash of pepper.

Lightly oil a 2lb loaf tin and press the meatloaf mixture into the tin, smoothing out the top. Cook in a preheated oven at 190 C/Gas 5 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Boil the new potatoes until tender; whilst hot add the butter and garlic puree. Season with pepper to taste.

Prepare frozen corn according to pack instructions, serve with hot garlic potatoes and meatloaf.