Christmas Cake

phormium

Do you not have an oven function that just uses the static elements without the fan coming on, even the cheapest of ovens often have this.

dchris

phormium wrote: »

Do you not have an oven function that just uses the static elements without the fan coming on, even the cheapest of ovens often have this.

I have a double over and the top part does, but the oven is too small to fit the cake it with the paper surrounding it. I'd have to put the cake onto the floor of the over , and I don't think that would be a great idea

dchris

What you guys doing with regards decorating? I was thinking something like the pic attached ? Nice? And for the people who I have to make 1/2 a cake for I was toying with the idea of cutting a square one in half but into 2 triangles . What you think?

sdp

dchris wrote: »

That looks great! I spoke to my sister and she said that when a recipe says 150c she reduces the fan over oven to 130c. Wish I could turn the fan off in my oven. I prefer Oxford Lunch to Xmas cake. Good job

good tip thank you,

Slattsy

Just made my second cake last night.

I have a fan oven too. This time I dropped the temp to 120 from 130 but gave it an extra 30mins cooking to 5.15 hours.
I found it didn't have any hard bits around the edges or on top. There was no real difference to the inside.
I also soaked the fruit for 2 days!

sdp

Slattsy wrote: »

Just made my second cake last night.

I have a fan oven too. This time I dropped the temp to 120 from 130 but gave it an extra 30mins cooking to 5.15 hours.
I found it didn't have any hard bits around the edges or on top. There was no real difference to the inside.
I also soaked the fruit for 2 days!

have never soaked fruit for that long, sounds like a plan, did you just use brandy? or orange juice/tea?
i'll be baking over weekend and i'll try that with the new oven,
thanks

Slattsy

I used whiskey and the juice of 1 orange juice and a wee squueze of lemon juice just for good measure.
Sprinkled a tad more whiskey over the top, only about 50ml on the second day too

dchris

Ok, I am starting all mine now! I eventually got all my almonds. Chopped almonds were so so so dear! 2 euro for 100g. Will pop up a pic when they come out of the oven

I found this too, useful for people with fan ovens!

110C = 225F = gas mark 1/4 = fan oven 90C
130C = 266F = gas mark 1/2 = fan oven 110C
140C = 284F = gas mark 1 = fan oven 120C - Very cool
150C = 302F = gas mark 2 = fan oven 130C
160C = 320F = gas mark 3 = fan oven 140C
170C = 338F = gas mark 3 = fan oven 150C - Cool
180C = 356F = gas mark 4 = fan oven 160C - Warm
190C = 374F = gas mark 5 = fan oven 170C
200C = 392F = gas mark 6 = fan oven 180C - Moderate
220C = 428F = gas mark 7 = fan oven 200C - Fairly hot
230C = 450F = gas mark 8 = fan oven 210C - Hot

dchris

Well I have one in the oven, and 2 waiting to go in! I find using a potato masher really useful for flatting the mix into the baking dish and getting rid of air pockets.


Here is a pic of the first one coming out of the oven!

dchris

Just flipped mine over, in your opinion is it a little pale? Or am I over worrying?

Slattsy

Def looks a bit pale.
Maybe add some treacle next time to darken it.

sdp

dchris wrote: »

Just flipped mine over, in your opinion is it a little pale? Or am I over worrying?

Is it the oxford lunch? if it is then more then looking good,
for christmas cake it dose look a bit light alright,
but then its all in the eating, no need to be worrying about it, it looks a lovely bake,

dchris

All done now, I think they were a bit pale cos I used soft demerara sugar instead of muscovado like last year. I added more black treacle and they were rest were darker. Am sure they will all taste fine, the batter tasted yum!

Slattsy

I've just finished my third cake today and it looks the best.
I don't know how to take a pic and post them though. Sorry.

Anyway, I used an extra bit of treacle today, cooked it for 4.45 at 120 in a fan oven. That's the ideal time I feel. Even 4.30 would be fine.

Loads of whiskey I think is important too, if it says 200ml then put in 300ml as the fruit will soak it all up if you leave it for a day or even two days.

dchris

Good job! Shame about the pics, would love to see how every ones look. I am waiting for my last one to come out of the oven now! 20 mins to go and then it's all over! Wish I could marzipan and ice them now, it's my favourite bit:D

Slattsy wrote: »

I've just finished my third cake today and it looks the best.
I don't know how to take a pic and post them though. Sorry.

Anyway, I used an extra bit of treacle today, cooked it for 4.45 at 120 in a fan oven. That's the ideal time I feel. Even 4.30 would be fine.

Loads of whiskey I think is important too, if it says 200ml then put in 300ml as the fruit will soak it all up if you leave it for a day or even two days.

RacoonQueen

I used the Delia recipe, this was my first year trying to make xmas cake. Had planned to 'trial' it during the summer but was ovenless for much of the summer.

Anyway, was a bit of a disaster. Had it in the oven for 5 hours and it was springy to touch, but, still seemed too moist. Didn't know what to do, did the skewer test and it appeared cooked, so took it out of the oven very reluctantly and left it to cool. Went back to take it out of the tin, once it was out it was evident it was no where near cooked. Had to act quick to weasel it back into the tin but as it was now 12:30 am I had to go to bed and leave it till the following evening to cool again. Another 3 hours :eek: and it was finally cooked.

Was tempted to just throw it out but we tried a teeny sliver over the weekend and it actually tasted ok, though that was from the outside of the cake so the inside might be quick icky, dry and heavy. There's now a lump taken out of the top but I was planning on icing it like this anyway http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=81880646&postcount=94
so it shouldn't really matter. Hope it works out ok, not as nice as it probably should have been.

Think what happened to mine was the size of the eggs I used. The ones I had were ''large and very large eggs' I assume the recipe would call for 'medium' eggs so there may have been an egg overload causing it to be a bit more moist while cooking?

Will have to make sure to feed it lots to make sure it doesn't end up too dry.

Slattsy

Delia's recipe calls for 4 large eggs.
In al lmy cakes i used 5 medium eggs and they were fine.

I think its all down to the oven myself. Fan oven are hard to get spot on.

Faith

I had a bit of a disaster when I made mine a few weeks back. The flat I'm in has a gas oven, which I'm still getting used to. I took the cake out to check it at about the 4 hour mark, and obviously shoved it back in too hard . The parchment caught fire and I had to let it burn itself out . I was afraid to wrap it again, so I left it uncovered in the oven for another 30 mins or so. It looks alright, if a bit moist. I'm ploughing on with it regardless, hoping it'll be perfect by Christmas!

dchris

Eventually got finished, 8 in total.. Now to start Oxford Lunch.. Really happy with them

Slattsy

dchris wrote: »

Eventually got finished, 8 in total.. Now to start Oxford Lunch.. Really happy with them

They look great, well done.

Im going to ice mine soon, any tips/recipes?

also, where did you get the plastic wrapping paper?

dchris

Slattsy wrote: »

They look great, well done.

Im going to ice mine soon, any tips/recipes?

also, where did you get the plastic wrapping paper?

Hi Slattsy,

The icing was really good and I even made a cake as a tester.

Royal Icing Recipe
600grams of Icing Sugar
3 Egg Whites

separate and whisk the eggs until they are white and fluffy, gradually and the sugar and keep mixing. Then just smooth over cake with a pallet knife. I used a fork to give the snowy peaks affect.

I also made my own marzipan
Marzipan Recipe
1lb Ground Almonds, (cheapers place for ground almonds was Lidl, 200g for 2 euro.
2 Egg Yolks
8 oz Caster Sugar
8 oz Icing Sugar
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
2tablespoons of brandy or whiskey (i used brandy)
2 teaspoon of almond essence

Mix all the wet ingredients and mix well, add it to a well in the centre of the sugar and almonds. You need to work it really hard and it will look as if you don't have enough wet ingredients. But keep working it. When it is coming together it might seem a bit crumbly and difficult to role, i think this is temperature related, so I put the mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water added and egg white and continued to mix, it rolled really well. Just dust the board and the pin with icing sugar. This was plenty for a 9inch round cake.

The cellophane I got from the cash and carry. It costs 13 euro for a huge big roll. But if you don't have access to one and are just making one cake, your local florist will have plenty 4ft is plenty for one cake! Hope that helps

Slattsy

Thank you !!!!

I'll try it soon

Cerulean Chicken

You can buy the cellophane in a florists, I get it for a euro a metre in mine, and you can buy royal icing in Tesco if you can't be bothered making the "proper" stuff, like me

My first Christmas cakes got covered in marzipan tonight, so proud of myself with the lovely golden colour of the bases, baked properly, etc. Up until now I've always just asked my mum to make Christmas cakes for me, to eat myself or to give to any friends/OH's family.

kah22

OK guys I've made my first ever Christmas cake this year and applied liberal amounts of brandy to it over the past number of weeks. I'm more that happy with the way it turned but time for some decorating.

So I've a few questions. Is it best to make or buy the marzipan and icing? Just thinking that I don't want to go astray this late in the game.

From what I've read you would ice the cake about two or three days after applying the marzipan. Can I leave it any longer than that? Planing to marzipan on Friday but may not be able to apply icing to the following Friday.

I've read that while traditionally royal icing is used to cover a Christmas cake unless you are a skilled decorator it can be tricky. Would that apply to just putting on a simple coat with no fancy art work. I noticed that in one of Delia Smith's articles she just covered the top with marzipan and icing and left it at that. But to be honest I think I want the whole thing!

May thanks for your replies

Kevin

dchris

Hey Kevin,

I made my own marzipan and royal icing. The marzipan is a bit tricky, but the icing was simple. I only left my marzipan one day before icing. The trick with the icing was making sure it was not too runny, the original recipe i had was for 550g icing sugar to 3 egg whites, but i used a bit more sugar as I thought it was too runny on my tester cake ( i made a tester cake as I had 10 cakes to do..

The marzipan is expensive to make, 200grams of ground almonds in lidl is 2 euro ( that was the cheapest place I found, i looked everywhere) I suggest you watch a video for the marzipan. I have attached an icing recipe video I followed , however i didn't add the glycerine and used a bit more sugar

I just used a fork and pulled at the icing with the tip to make little snowy peeks. My first time making so many and I was really happy with the results



http://video.about.com/britishfood/How-to-Ice-a-Classic-British-Christmas-Cake.htm




Here is the recipe I posted earlier
Royal Icing Recipe
600grams of Icing Sugar
3 Egg Whites

separate and whisk the eggs until they are white and fluffy, gradually and the sugar and keep mixing. Then just smooth over cake with a pallet knife. I used a fork to give the snowy peaks affect.

I also made my own marzipan
Marzipan Recipe
1lb Ground Almonds, (cheapers place for ground almonds was Lidl, 200g for 2 euro.
2 Egg Yolks
8 oz Caster Sugar
8 oz Icing Sugar
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
2tablespoons of brandy or whiskey (i used brandy)
2 teaspoon of almond essence

Mix all the wet ingredients and mix well, add it to a well in the centre of the sugar and almonds. You need to work it really hard and it will look as if you don't have enough wet ingredients. But keep working it. When it is coming together it might seem a bit crumbly and difficult to role, i think this is temperature related, so I put the mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water added and egg white and continued to mix, it rolled really well. Just dust the board and the pin with icing sugar. This was plenty for a 9inch round cake

kah22 wrote: »

OK guys I've made my first ever Christmas cake this year and applied liberal amounts of brandy to it over the past number of weeks. I'm more that happy with the way it turned but time for some decorating.

So I've a few questions. Is it best to make or buy the marzipan and icing? Just thinking that I don't want to go astray this late in the game.

From what I've read you would ice the cake about two or three days after applying the marzipan. Can I leave it any longer than that? Planing to marzipan on Friday but may not be able to apply icing to the following Friday.

I've read that while traditionally royal icing is used to cover a Christmas cake unless you are a skilled decorator it can be tricky. Would that apply to just putting on a simple coat with no fancy art work. I noticed that in one of Delia Smith's articles she just covered the top with marzipan and icing and left it at that. But to be honest I think I want the whole thing!

May thanks for your replies

Kevin

kah22

I'm only after finishing putting the marzipan onto my Christmas cake, made it myself and was surprised how easy it was! I do feel satisfied

Next Saturday the icing! I seem to have three choices Royal Icing or fondant icing, or shop bought. But since I've done everything on my own so far I'd like to give the shop bought stuff a miss!

So what's the pros and cons of each. Remember this is my first Christmas cake.

Kevin

ps the cake is now covered with marzipan how should I keep it: just covered with a cloth or pop it back into the tin which was its home this last month or so!

Cerulean Chicken

kah22 wrote: »

I'm only after finishing putting the marzipan onto my Christmas cake, made it myself and was surprised how easy it was! I do feel satisfied

Next Saturday the icing! I seem to have three choices Royal Icing or fondant icing, or shop bought. But since I've done everything on my own so far I'd like to give the shop bought stuff a miss!

So what's the pros and cons of each. Remember this is my first Christmas cake.

Kevin

ps the cake is now covered with marzipan how should I keep it: just covered with a cloth or pop it back into the tin which was its home this last month or so!

Do you mean fondant icing as in Fondant Fancies or Sugarpaste/roll out icing? I'm assuming it's the latter but if that's the case nobody really makes that themselves, it's shop bought 99% of the time.

kah22

Cerulean Chicken wrote: »

Do you mean fondant icing as in Fondant Fancies or Sugarpaste/roll out icing? I'm assuming it's the latter but if that's the case nobody really makes that themselves, it's shop bought 99% of the time.

It's the roll out stuff I was thinking off, the sort that is like a dough. Now I know the difference I'm assuming that's the icing they have in the supermarkets just now?

That been the case I'll go for the Royal Icing and then I can say 'I did it my way.' Unfortunately the family won't let me sing it. They have no respect for talent :mad::D

Faith

Hurrah, my Christmas cake was a complete success! \o/

kah22

Glad to say mine turned out perfect. Had a little worry about the icing, but it was OK.