Make Christmas Cake - The Victorian Way
Mrs Crocombe shows how to make a delicious and traditional Victorian Christmas cake.
She includes the recipe and method so you can make it yourself.
Duration/Time: 6:13
This Christmas plum cake is based on a recipe by Charles Francatelli, who was Queen Victoria's chief cook from 1840 to 1841.
INGREDIENTS:
- 8 eggs
- 680g butter
- 680g currants
- 680g candied peel
- 680g plain flour
- 450g caster sugar
- half pint of brandy
- 225g ground almonds
- Zest of four oranges
- 450g dried chopped cherries
- 15g ground spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg)
For the almond paste:
- 3-4 egg whites
- 450g caster sugar
- 225g ground almonds
- A little orange water
For the icing:
- Lemon Juice
- 6 egg whites
- 680g icing sugar
METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 160ºC, 320ºF or gas mark 3.
Line a large cake tin with butter and greaseproof paper.
Soften your butter, then combine with the sugar, flour and eggs gradually.
Incorporate the cherries, currants, candied peel, ground almonds, spices and brandy until you have a thick mixture.
Pour this mix into your lined cake tin and place in the centre of the preheated oven.
Bake until a skewer comes out clean when placed into the centre of the cake.
This will take around six hours, but keep an eye on it.
Once your cake is out of the oven, remove it from the tin and leave it to cool on a wire rack.
Make the almond paste:
Mix the ground almonds, caster sugar and orange water together in a bowl.
Slowly add in the egg whites, and mix until the mixture comes together into a dough.
You may not need to use all of the egg whites. Keep an eye on the mixture consistency so it does not become too thin.
Take your almond paste and roll it out until it is around 5mm thick.
Using your cake tin as a guide, cut out a circle to cover the top of the cake, and a strip to encircle the sides.
You can then place it over the cake, using jam or water as a glue if necessary.
Make the icing:
You can make the icing by mixing the egg whites and fine sugar together.
Add a few drops of lemon juice until the mixture becomes spreadable.
Cover the cake in this icing mixture and leave this in a dry place until it turns hard.
You can then decorate the cake by piping on some more icing.
If you want to keep it authentically Victorian we suggest writing a Christmas message onto your cake.
You can add a little food colouring to your icing to create an array of colours for your cake.