The Best Bake of the Year

The time has finally come! I normally do this around October but due to the busy business that's been going on this year I'm v.late in comparison. So, one week before the fat man comes (is that phrase still kosher?) I have finally hup-two'd into the kitchen to bake my Christmas Cake. I don't mind a bit of aprons-on old fashioned baking but I must say the Christmas Cake is my most favourite bake of all.....feeling "sad" just re-reading that sentence!! I do have a life....REALLY!
And as luck has it my Secret Santa is a woman of great style so I ended up with these babies (among other goodies) in my stocking......No, they didn't actually lay those eggs, although I wasn't in the room the whole time...

I put them to good use during my Christmas Cake bake. Little cuties!! I've always enjoyed a bit of Nigella action in the kitchen so it is only fitting for me to use one of her recipes for The Cake and my favourite one that I have used for the last couple of years is the Chocolate Fruit Cake. Find it HERE.
Basically you bung about 750g of chopped dried fruit into a large saucepan; I use the remainder of whatever I couldn't fit into my fruit mince jar, with a few other ingredients, gently boil for a while, add the "cake" ingredients and cook for about 2 hours. Smell but don't look while it's boiling in the saucepan! Trust me.

After it has cooked and cooled I take it out of the tin and wrap it in Gladwrap then a layer of alfoil and put it to sleep in a cool dark cupboard until the unveiling on Christmas Day. Easy peasy! Nigella puts a lot of gold bling on the top but I don't have time for that so au naturel is my serving method of choice. Bon Apettit!


xxMs.K