Think you've left it too late to make a Christmas cake? You haven't. Seven Sharp presenter Hilary Barry whips up what she calls the world's easiest Christmas cake.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a feeder.
On my desk at work, I have a list of everyone's birthdays at Seven Sharp so we can celebrate with cake. I bake the cakes because I love baking the cakes.
It would stand to reason then with Christmas just around the corner that I'd have my Christmas cake sorted by now. After all, I'm the one who loves baking cakes! Alas, like most years, Christmas has crept up on me and the cake tin is empty.
There's a lot to put off a potential Christmas cake baker. Recipes for heavy fruit cakes often involve huge volumes of ingredients that can overwhelm even the most robust of mixers. Traditional recipes are also meant to be baked two to three months before the big day.
Who on earth has the foresight to bake a Christmas cake in September? Certainly not me.
And that's why this wonderful recipe from Julie Le Clerc is so brilliant.
It's simple, tastes delicious and doesn't suffer from being made relatively close to Christmas.
The recipe (which Julie has kindly allowed us to share) has been in her family for generations.
She says the cake's history dates back to World War II when eggs were hard to come by (you'll see it doesn't have any.)
So give it a go and when you do please, please, promise me this: Make a wish when you're stirring your cake and if there are others in the house, get them to make a wish too because a Christmas cake baked with a little bit of love always tastes better.
Merry Christmas!
Julie Le Clerc's Amazing Christmas Cake recipe
225 g butter, cubed
1 cup hot water
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1 kg dried fruit (I like an even mix of currants, raisins and sultanas)
395 g can sweetened condensed milk
1 level tsp baking soda
1/3 cup dry sherry (or whiskey or brandy, as preferred)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2¼ cups self-raising flour, sifted
Whole natural almonds, to decorate
Brandy, to douse (see note, below)
Method
Preheat the oven to 140°C (not fan-bake). Line the base and sides of a deep-sided 20-cm round cake tin with two layers of non-stick baking paper.
Place butter, hot water, vinegar, cinnamon, mixed spice and dried fruit into a large saucepan and bring just to the boil, stirring regularly until butter melts.
Remove from the heat and stir in condensed milk and baking soda (expect the mixture to foam). Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Add sherry and vanilla to the cooled fruit mixture and stir in flour. Spread the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Arrange almonds on top, pressing them in lightly.
Bake for 2 hours 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely before removing it from the tin.
Note: To store any fruitcake, wrap tightly in a double layer of greaseproof paper and store in a cool place. ‘Feed’ the cake with brandy at intervals (say once a week) by poking the cake all over with a skewer, then dousing it with brandy so that it soaks in through the holes and permeates the cake with flavour.
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