Nigel Slater's Christmas cake, Pyengana Cheddar |
It's the Friday night before Christmas, and I've taken Monday off work, so it's going to be a five-day weekend for me. Woohoo! It's been a hectic few weeks, but I finally have some time for a little rest! We're having our big festive family feast on Christmas Eve, and we already did all the shopping tonight after work. Gifts are (finally) all organised too! So for now all I need to do is curl up on the couch with a thick slice of Christmas cake and a mug of tea. Bliss!
For this year's Christmas cake, I decided to return to an old favourite: Nigel Slater's Christmas Cake. The recipe appears in his books: Appetite, (where it's simply, and aptly, titled: "A Big Fruit Cake"), and also in The Kitchen Diaries. Luckily for those of you who don't have these books, it's also available online - Nigel has posted the Christmas Cake recipe in his Guardian column.
The last time I made it was three years ago (see Christmas Cake post here) and it was definitely due for a repeat! (Just quietly, I like Nigel's Christmas Cake much better than Nigella's Classic Christmas Cake. Although having said that, I remember really liking her Chocolate Fruit Cake - so perhaps I'll give that a go again next year).
But, back to Nigel's cake: I baked it at the start of the month, and let it mature for twenty torturous days, only digging into it this week! Please, a round of applause at my amazing self-restraint. (Well, I did have a little sneak preview, but I'll tell you about that below).
Ingredients |
I chose Calvados for my "feeding brandy" of choice - I got the idea from the lovely Gemma at Dressing for Dinner, and thought it sounded amazing. I still have the expensive bottle of Calvados I bought almost seven years ago for my Sarah Discovers How to Eat project - it's been with me through five jobs and three houses, and you know what? It was time to stop saving it and start enjoying it!
That's not to say that I'd be pouring the Calvados willy nilly - this is definitely a cake worthy of a $70 bottle of booze! I love the buff, cappuccino-coloured batter...
Obligatory whisk shot |
"Fruit Salad" mixed dried fruits |
There are, of course, sultanas, raisins, currants and dried cranberries!
Cranberries, raisins, sultanas, currants |
Christmas cake batter |
Cake, pre-baking |
Mini Christmas Cakes |
Mini Christmas cake on day of baking |
Shall we have a look at the large cake, after its maturation time?
Christmas cake |
Christmas cake |
Honestly, I know that one full-sized fruitcake is far too much for one household to eat over the Christmas period. Rather than trying to scale it down, however, I love the idea of gifting people generous wedges of the cake, wrapped up rustically in waxed paper and tied with kitchen string.
Christmas cake |
If you love fruit cake like me, then this truly is the one to try.
I am super, duper excited for Christmas!! Speaking of excitement, I was pretty chuffed when Nigel himself responded to one of my early tweets about the Christmas cake. Fangirl freakout!
I hope Nigel's right! I'm really looking forward to Christmas! I hope you all have a great little break!
7 comments
The cake + cheese combo is genius! Something I should try myself when I dig into my Christmas cake :)
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays to you, and enjoy the break!
What an exciting Christmas gift hearing from Nigel himself! :D And well done on waiting the requisite time! I hope you and your family have a fantastic Christmas! :D
ReplyDeleteCake looks amazing. I can just hear Nigel's voice saying that tweet!
ReplyDeleteSeason's Greetings
OMG OMG OMG I would total freak as well if Nigel or Nigella or Jamie Oliver hahaha one of the chefs that I admire replied to my tweet :) David Lebovitz replied once and I was already over the moon hehe ~
ReplyDeleteA shame that you don't like Nigella's Classic Christmas cake very much :) Doesn't matter because Nigel's cake is just as pretty!
Nigel himself?? You're totes famous :D!!!!
ReplyDeleteNigel replied to one of my tweets too!! Glad to hear you enjoyed the cake - it really is a beauty. I made a 20cm one for my family and a smaller one just for us which I used a 5" tin to bake, my calculations were slightly off though so I ended up with a small but very tall cake - good job it was a deep tin!
ReplyDeleteSophie - It's so addictive! I love dried fruit and cheese.
ReplyDeleteLorraine - Thank-you so much! I freaked out a bit (ok, a lot!) when I saw that tweet!
Pip - Thank-you! A belated merry Christmas to you too :)
Daisy - I LOVE David Lebovitz, so I think that's really exciting too!
Nic - Haha *squeeeee*
Gemma - So cool! I remember seeing that tweet (and your lovely post on Christmas cake!) Tall cakes are very majestic, perfect for Christmas!
xox Sarah