McCain Christmas Cake

A Christmas Cake From Several Years Ago

This is my Irish Christmas Cake. I had several requests for its recipe. However, I am one of those type of cooks that does not use precise measurements. In addition, I am a very good cook of meats and main dishes. I am expert level at smoking beef, pork, etc. I rarely cook anything sweet and so my experience at cooking cakes is that of a rank amateur.  Be that as it may, here is my version of the Irish Christmas Cake.  This type of cake is a fruit and nut cake, which is typical in the Isles (i.e. the UK and Ireland). There are many variations of it, this is a type I have eaten in Ireland. It is still made in Ireland and popular there. 

The ingredients prior to mixing

You soak the fruit, raisins, currants, nuts, lemon zest, orange zest, is a glass bowl to which you add at least a 1/2 cup of Irish whiskey. I also add vanilla and almond extract. I let this concoction soak over night. 

The next day I sat out the eggs, butter, and brown sugar, as I like to work with them at room temperature. 

I cream the butter and sugar well, then add the eggs one at a time. I then fold in the fruit, raisin, and nuts.

I add the spices to the flour along with a pinch of salt. I then fold in the flour to the well mixed butter, sugar, and eggs.  This makes a fairly thick batter. If you feel the batter is too thick, just add some Irish whiskey to it. 

The batter

I use a springform cake pan. I grease the pan with coconut oil, which is thick like butter or lard. Then I double line the pan with parchment paper. I cut rounds for the bottom, and strips for the sides. I use more of the coconut oil to 'glue' the paper down and make it behave.  

Work area, with my notes and Springform pan

I then put the batter in the pan, smooth it down and make it even. Then I put more parchment paper around the outside of the pan (don't need to grease this of course) so that it is several inches above the top of the springform pan and I tie a piece of twine around this to hold it there. 

I place this in the oven. The cooking temperature is 275 Fahrenheit. Depending on your oven, the cake will cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  You test it by sticking a wooden toothpick in it to see if it comes out clean. You should be able to tell if it is done just by looking at the cake. 

Ready to go into the Oven

 

The Cake done and cooling

Let it cool a bit, then remove all the parchment paper. Carefully, flip the cake so the bottom is upright. I use a wooden chopstick to poke a good ten holes into the cake, I then do the first feeding, i.e. add about a 1/2 cup of whiskey.  I then wrap the cake in parchment paper and tinfoil and place it in a cake carrier or cake serving dish, the type with a top on it. 

You can feed the cake each week, or more if you like. This makes for a moist cake and a wonderful flavour. 

The two cakes I recently made are now being seasoned, i.e. fed whiskey.  I will not decorate them until the week of Christmas.  Putting icing on this type of Christmas Cake is optional. It is fine to leave it as is, but this year I wanted to do something special. One cake will have a marzipan and royal icing top, the other cake will have a marzipan and fondant top. I will update this blog post with photos of the decorated cakes. 

Ingredients: 

2 1/2 cups of fruit; I used diced orange peel and apricots on one cake and diced orange peel, apricots, and dried figs on the other. I used the pre diced orange peel you get from your grocery store. 

1 1/2 cups of raisins and or currants.

1 cup of blanched slivered almonds.

zest of an Orange and zest of a Lemon and the juice of each. 

add whiskey and let soak over night. 

2 1/8 cups of all purpose flour, sifted. 

1 cup of almond flour, sifted. 

Salt, a healthy pinch

Spices... All Spice, Nutmeg, ground Cloves, Ginger, Cinnamon, and Mace.  I used at least a heaping teaspoon of each. Probably more of the All Spice, Nutmeg, and Ginger. I did not use as much Cinnamon as it can drown out the other spices I feel. 

5 eggs

2 sticks of butter, use Kerrygold if you have it.

1 cup of Brown Sugar, some recipes use more than this, more like 1 and 1/4 cup, but I feel like this is too much. 

Irish Whiskey as needed 

The history of the Christmas Cake is interesting. First, there is a lot of speculation and theories on the internet and in print on this subject. I will offer a short history here. First of all, the tradition of a cake presentation for the Winter Solstice is old. A cake was done for Saturnalia in ancient Rome. This festival celebrated the Winter Solstice and was dedicated to the god Saturn  (i.e. Cronos). The cake was a fruit and nut cake, probably much like the Italian Pan Forte. A bean was baked into the cake and who ever received the piece with the bean was pronounced Lord of the festivities. He took the place of Saturn that is to say. Over the years Saturnalia morphed into Christmas, but the Saturnalia Cake, or now the Christmas Cake, tradition endured and continued. 

This tradition is related to other 'cakes' that are also called a King Cake and a 12th Night Cake. The Christmas Cake, 12th Night Cake, and King Cake, while different in function these days, do share a common origin. The Saturnalia Cake lived on and was given a Christian context. By the 1500s, well to do folk in the Isles were producing a cake much like our modern Christmas Cake, a dense cake, with fruit, raisins, nuts, etc., and was often topped with a marzipan layer and icing. During Victorian times the Christmas Cake became the institution it is today. 

Merry Christmas and Io Saturnalia and enjoy your Christmas Cake this year. 

© Barry R McCain 2021