There Christmas Cake it is not a traditional Italian dessert, but it comes from Ireland: why do you recommend it? Because it contains all the scents and colors of Christmas!

A poor but rich cake

Originally this dessert was considered by the Irish a real one Christmas gift because to prepare it needed many ingredients at the time not available or anyway very expensive.
Nowadays, however, the dried and dried fruit It's on the table every day, especially during the Christmas season, so this cake has become a dessert of the holidays for everyone.
As tradition dictates, however, you must have a little patience, start preparing it at least two weeks before Christmas, pamper it for a long time soaking it and, the day before serving it at the end of the 25th dinner, decorate it to make it beautiful and special .

Christmas cake and christmas pudding

Before proceeding with the recipe, it is necessary to make a clarification.
There are two versions of the Christmas cake: a higher and a lower one.
In the second case we talk about Christmas Pudding, but the ingredients and the procedure are the same.
To prepare the low version, simply use a large mold!

A dessert that requires time and patience

To prepare the Christmas Cake you can play in advance, indeed you have to do it!
As we said, this cake, in fact, must rest for a long time to let the flavors blend and reach the perfect consistency.
It is a sweet compact, soft and very sugary given the presence of many types of dried fruit and perfume spices and brandy because from time to time you have to wet it and let the alcohol get well absorbed. In this way the interior will remain moist at the right point.
The Christmas Cake can be compared to ours panforte, but it is only one of his distant relatives.
It's hard to explain, you just have to try it.
Here is the recipe.

The Christmas cake recipe

Let's start immediately from the list of ingredients. There are many, but do not worry, it's a very easy dessert to prepare.

Ingredients

225 g of flour
175 g of butter
175 g of muscovado sugar
4 eggs
a lemon
an orange
mixed spices: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg
6 tablespoons of brandy or whiskey
500 g of raisins and dried red fruits
100 g of candied orange and lemon peel
100 g of candied cherries
100 g of chopped almonds with a knife
100 g of almond flour

The procedure

Put the raisins and all the candies in a bowl and add 4 tablespoons of brandy.
Mix well, cover and let absorb for 12 hours.
Separately add the flour, the butter at room temperature, the sugar, the eggs, the rind of the lemon and the orange, the mixed spices and beat until you get a homogeneous mixture.
Add the raisins and candied fruit, the ground almonds and the almond flour and mix well.
Transfer the mixture into a round pan lined with two layers of parchment paper and level the surface.
Bake at 130 ° for about 5 hours.
Once ready let it cool and then wet it with whiskey or brandy and wrap it in the parchment paper.
It should be kept in an airtight container and kept wet every 3 days until Christmas.

How to decorate the Christmas cake

In Ireland, tradition has it that the Christmas Cake arrives at the table "well decorated".
The day before Christmas, then brush with hot honey and then cover with a layer of marzipan and another of sugar paste.
You can then add sugar puppets in Christmas or candied fruit.
Once garnished it must be consumed within two days.
But if you do not want to sweeten it too much with this kind of decorations, simply serve it with some whipped cream next to it. In this way it will be stored much longer than simply wrapped in transparent and wet film from time to time.

Just a little over two weeks at Christmas, the right time to rest the Christmas cake. Are you ready to prepare it?

Just some tips yet: browse the gallery!