Christmas Cakes....Secret recipes

It's flattering, it's astounding the following it has, it's a sign of tradition and progress.

What on earth am I prattling on about?
Christmas cake of course.

My grandmothers both baked fruit loafs at Christmas time for as far back as I can remember and while both were delicious they were also unique. Nan's was lighter and less dense; Mother's (my maternal grandmother) was more fruit-laden and darker - this latter trait was thanks to the gravy browning she put in it -- yes, you read it correctly: gravy browning. Nan always used brandy to lace the loaf and Mother preferred rum; me being somewhat of an alcoholic, loved them both.

As time took its tenacious toll, both grandmothers had to give up on making the cakes; after all it's all done by hand and stirring kilos of dry fruit round and round is not easy on the elbow joints. Now for those that don't know, my Mam is not known for her culinary prowess; in fact, to her credit, she once did try to boil her own beetroot. Unfortunately, she peeled the damn things and as a result we had WHITE beetroot instead of the usual PURPLE. It apparently tasted OK, but looked distinctly anaemic.

So when Mam volunteered to have a go at taking over the batton for cake baking, I was skeptical to say the least. She donned her pinny (cf pinafore) and started stirring. After several nail-biting hours in the oven, the cake was taken out and inspected. There's nothing quite like newly baked things and the aroma engulfed the kitched.

Delicious was the unanimous verdict.

It has been a tradition going back to my grandmothers' time for me to take one cake to work for my colleagues to share; what started in Paris, moved to Tokyo and is now firmly ensconced in Singapore at Synovate.

You can see a picture at: http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?pid=4451075&id=566862385&ref=mf

The cake gets accolades every year - and some people even put in advance orders. My matriarchs in the Smith/Martin family are deeply touched by such praise and thank all the followers of the beloved Christmas Cake.

And to spread the joy, I've decided to publish the top secret recipe; so please experiement and enjoy.

HAPPY BAKING.

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Ingredients:

7/8inch cake tin
4oz butter +4oz margarine
8oz caster sugar,4 eggs, 1lbs currants,8oz raisins, 4oz pkt cherry's, 6oz plain flour, 4oz ground almonds.1/2 T/spoon mixed spices.1/4 T/spoon baking powder, 1Tablewarm treacle, 1table spoon rum (dark).
grease and line tin
wash cherry's dry 1 oz,
place all fruits in colander over a basin,pour 1and a 1/2 table spoons of rum over them and leave overnight.

Method:

Butter/Margarine/Sugar and warm Treacle mix well.
Add beaten eggs and flour,then slowly add all the remainder of ingredients.
Add the rest of the rum,don't make the mix to sloppy.
spoon into tin level off.
Bake for 1/2 hr at 160 (fan oven150) then 3 to 3 1/2 hrs at145 (fan 135)
When baked leave in tin about 1 hr, pour over 1Tablespoon of rum.
Remove from tin leave overnight to cool.
Wrap in grease proof paper and tin foil place in a airtight container
Brush with rum every 2 wks

To be made 6/8 weeks before needed.