This weekend on Sunday 7th November the world’s longest running motoring event, the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, is taking place. It attracts entrants from all over the globe and for the owners of these highly valuable Veteran cars it represents a rare opportunity to take their extraordinary automobiles on the 60-mile run from Hyde Park in central London to the seafront on the Sussex resort of Brighton.
For more information click here.
My Good friend Fiona gave me this typed out recipe for fabulous Christmas Cake over 20 years ago and i have been making it every year since…here it is, reproduced in its original form for you to enjoy.
I usually put marzipan and royal icing on top but this year I’m going to make a nutty glaze: brush the top with apricot jam gently heated with brandy and then decorate with a beautiful arrangements of lightly toasted pecans, brazils, walnuts and dark glace cherries – topped with a final layer of the jam/brandy mix which acts as a preservative so that it stores well.
Ingredients
6 oz plain wholewheat flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
6 oz butter
6 oz muscavado raw brown sugar
5 eggs
2 tablespoon molasses
8 oz currants
2 oz flaked almonds
4 oz mixed peel, chopped rind and juice of 1 lemon
6 oz sultans
6 oz raisins
3 oz ground almonds
3 oz glace cherries
1 tablespoon brandy (absolutely necessary!)
Makes one 8″ round cake
Method
Set oven at 300 f (159c) gas mark 2, position shelf in centre of oven. Grease an 8″ round tin, line with three thicknesses of greased greaseproof paper. Tie brown paper round the outside of the tin so that it extends about 2″ above the top; secure with string.
Sift together the flour and mixed spice, mixing in the residue of bran left in the sieve. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one by one, beating well after each. Add a little of the flour if the mixture curdles stir in the molasses, then fold in the flour and stir in the currants, flaked raisins, ground almonds and angelica. Add the cherries centre of the oven for 4 1/2 – 5 hours or until a warmed knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Turn cake out carefully onto a wire rack to cool. When it is quite cold, strip off the paper. I always pour liberal amounts of brandy over the cake when it is still hot. Buy a 1/4 bottle! - for the pudding as well.
Wrap the cake in greaseproof paper and foil and store in an airtight tin until ready for icing. Cover with almond icing and decorate and ENJOY.
Martine
