Every Christmas I make a Christmas cake. I can’t remember when it started but it’s been going for years now. Last year I was thinking of gifting family a Christmas cake but didn’t want to make a second “big” cake. So this year, in November, I’ve decided to test making a “small” cake.

This recipe has a few quirks compared to my usual recipe. It includes a spoon of cocoa. I saw this in another recipe online and thought I’d try it out. Secondly, I didn’t add cinnamon or mixed spice. Instead I’m drawing on the flavours of the alcohol, dried fruit, orange zest and juice, almond essence and cocoa.

Hope you enjoy!

Amy x

Ingredients
200g sultanas
50g halved glace cherries
100ml whiskey
Juice and zest of 1 orange
125g margarine
100g light brown sugar
25g caster sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 eggs
1/2 tsp almond essence
1/2 tsp lemon essence
150g self-raising flour
10g cocoa powder

Method
Grease and line a 6″ cake tin. I recommend doing a double layer of grease proof paper on the bottom.

Put the sultanas, cherries, orange zest, orange juice and whiskey in a saucepan and simmer for a couple of minutes. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Cream the margarine and sugars together.

Beat in the maple syrup, eggs and essences.

Fold in the flour, cocoa and the fruit from the fruit mix. Hold on to the juice.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. Remove and cover with tin foil before returning to the oven for a further 30 minutes.

Make a syrup with the juice from the fruit. When the cake has finished baking, pierce holes all over the top and drizzle over the syrup.

Allow to cool completely before removing from the tin. Wrap up in grease proof paper and tin foil, opening weekly to “feed” with whiskey.

Before decorating, leave for about a fortnight without “feeding” so the outside of the cake has time to dry off.