My Last Minute Christmas Cake

Merry Christmas guys! I know, this post comes quite late, infact I should have posted it before Christmas arrived. But I have been baking so many cakes lately, that I just couldn't make it on time here. Nonetheless, you can still try this Christmas Cake any day. That's what I do. It's unbelievingly simple. You don't need to soak anything in this recipe, so no beforehand preparations.

Actually, this year I didnot think I would bake any cakes. But I ended up baking so many. That's another story. But the point is, I had to choose a recipe that didnot need any elaborate preparations. And then, this one seemed ideal. Bakes in flat 30 minutes and another 10 minutes for preparing. Hardly.


This is also what I like about winters. We can conveniently rename it as the 'Baking Season'. Everybody seems to be in a baking spree. Everybody is looking for Christmas Cake recipes. But yes, this is what makes Christmas so appealing to me. The fact that every kitchen smells of baked goodies. During my childhood days, dad always got Christmas Cakes from Flurys, the legendary confectioner in Calcutta.

I started baking Christmas Cakes only since last to last year, when M insisted I do. After distributing some amongst friends and relatives, I enjoyed the response. So then on, our Christmas cakes come from my very own oven. There are plentiful recipes for traditional Plum Cakes or Christmas Cakes which are rum soaked. Mostly people soak the dry fruits weeks or months in advance. Even I do the same, and it no doubt gives an awesome flavour. The reason is, soaking the dry fruits in rum makes them utterly moist and they absorb all the goodness of the rum. The rum soaked Christmas Cakes are elaborate but worth the effort. But since this year, I made last minutes plans to bake a cake, I settled for this last minute version. This too gives a distinguished result and comes quite close to the rum soaked ones. This one is easy, therefore I went ahead and baked a few for my neighbours and friends as well. I promise I shall share the recipe of a traditional Cristmas Cake next season.

Though this recipe is not with rum soaked dry fruits, yet the flavour of rum prevails as I have used some. If you prefer not to use any kind of alcohol in your cake recipe, you can omit it. However, I would say, use it if you can.

Plum/Christmas Cake

Ingredients

Unsalted Butter 120 gms
Brown Sugar 3/4 cup
All Purpose Flour 1 1/2 cup
Baking Powder 1 1/2 tsp.
Eggs 2 nos.
Golden Syrup 2 tbsp.
Dark Rum 2 tsp.
Lemon Rind, grated 2 tsp.
Currants 4 tbsp.
Tutti frutti 2 tbsp.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Mix flour and baking powder together. Keep aside.


2. Beat unsalted butter, lemon rind, brown sugar, rum and golden syrup together. When the mixture is creamy, the the eggs and beat well.


3. Fold in flour and baking powder mixture properly. Now, add the currants and trutti frutti. Pour batter into greased cake tins.


4. Bake in your preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes till the cake is golden brown on top or a tooth pick or skewer comes out clean.

When the cake is completely cooled, dust it with some icing sugar. This, however, is an optional step. But I like so much more sugar on top.