Christmas_Cake

Ingredients:

250g self-raising flour 1½tsp mixed spice ½tsp ground cinnamon ¼tsp ground cloves 50g ground almond 350g each of raisins, currandts and sultanas 50g mixed peel 50g dried apricots, chopped 50g walnuts, roughly chopped 50g whole, unblanched almonds, chopped 250g unsalted butter, softended 200g Billington’s Natural Dark Muscovado sugar grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon 5 large free-range eggs 100ml brandy (plus extra for ‘feeding’-see bottom)

Preheat oven to 150°C, fan 140°F, gas 2.

Sift the flour and spices into a bowl, then add the ground almonds, raisins, currants, sultantas, mixed peel, dried apricots, walnuts, chopped almonds and a pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the Dark Muscovado sugar and lemon zest until fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, adding 1 teaspoon of the flour mixture with each egg. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture, adding the lemon juice and brandy.

Spoon into a greased and floured round 24cm tin. Level and bake for 2 hours. Cover very loosely with a sheet of greaseproof paper and bake for another hour. Test for readiness after 2¾hours. The cake comes out clean and the sides have begun to shrink from the edges of the tin.

Cool the cake on a wire rack Once completely cold, wrap in foil and store in a n airtight container in a dry, cool place until Christmas.

Every 2 weeks unwrap the cake to feed it:prick the top with a long skewer and spoon over 1-2tablespoons brandy before resealing and storing