Merry Christmas(Christmas Cake)

Ingredients

Maida -2 ½ cup
Butter – 1 ¾ cup
Brown sugar -2 ½ cup
Eggs - 5
Salt - ¼ pinch
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon and nutmeg powder – ¼ tsp
Dry fruits –1cup
(raisins, cherries, sultanas ,figs)
orange peel, lemon peel -1tbsp
Rum or brandy - 1/2 cup
Cashew nuts - ¼ cups
Pineapple jam - ¼ cup
Vanilla essence - ½ tsp

Preparation

Preparation for this cake starts
three weeks before baking.
In a glass jar, pour ½ a cup of rum
and add 4 tbsp of powdered sugar,
chopped dry fruits and orange peel.

Sieve twice maida, baking powder and spices.
Add crushed cashew nuts to the sieved flour
and keep aside.
Beat butter and powdered brown sugar
till it is smooth and fluffy.
Beat in egg yolks one by one smoothly.
Add ¼ of a pinch of salt .
Add dry fruits- in -rum and pineapple jam.
Mix well.
Beat egg whites lightly.
Fold this egg white slowly to the
butter sugar mixture.
Spoon by spoon fold in maida(flour)
See that there are no lumps.
Pour vanilla essence and fold in smoothly.

Pre-heat oven 180 degree C for 10 minutes.
Apply butter to the baking dish and dust
flour on all sides. Pour the cake batter and
tap the dish lightly on the work floor to release air .
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in convection oven.
(not in microwave)
Check the cake has left the sides.
Insert a skewer in the middle of the cake.
See that the skewer comes out neat.
If the cake sticks on the skewer,
bake it for 5 to 10 minutes more or till the skewer comes out clean.
Turn the cake on the wire mesh after 10 minutes.
When it is cooled, wrap in a
butter paper brushed with rum.
After 3 days, that is on Christmas day.
Cut the cake, share it with your family and friends .
This cake has a longer shelf life.

Tips

1. If brown sugar is not available,
use regular white sugar 2 ½ cups.
To caramelise
2. On a thick bottom pan, add 1/2 cup
of sugar and keep on low flame.
As it caramelizes, pour in 1/2 cup of
boiling water as needed.It should not be very watery nor firm like toffee . When cooled ,you can pour in
the cake batter along with butter
and powdered sugar.
3. Use only fresh flour and fresh baking powder.
4. All the ingredients should be in room temperature.5. Baking time depends on the size of your baking dish and
how moist your cake batter is .