Dark Christmas Cake

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

502 people added this to their Recipe Box

Dark Christmas Cake
Photography by Yvonne Duivenvoorden

This recipe makes 6 servings

Nutritional Info
Per slice:	-
cal	113113 cal
pro	1 g1g pro
total fat	3 g3g total fat
sat. fat	1 g1g sat. fat
carb	20 g20g carb
fibre	1 g1g fibre
chol	16 mg16mg chol
sodium	40 mg40mg sodium
% RDI:	-
calcium	22 calcium
iron	44 iron
vit A	22 vit A
vit C	77 vit C
folate	44 folate

To ice cake, double the almond paste and icing in our Tropical White Christmas Cake recipe. See link below.

Ingredients

2 cups currants 2 2cups cupscurrantcurrants
2 cups mixed candied peel 2 2cups cupsmixed candied peel
1-1/2 1-1/2cups cupscoarsely chopped candied pineapple
1-1/2 1-1/2cups cupsred candied cherries, halved
1-1/2 cups seeded Muscat raisins 1-1/2 1-1/2cups cupsseeded Muscat raisins or lexia raisins
1 cup brandy 1 1cup cupbrandy or rum
2 cups all-purpose flour 2 2cups cupsall-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder 2 2tsp tspbaking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 1/2tsp tspbaking soda
1/4 tsp ground allspice 1/4 1/4tsp tspground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 1/4tsp tspground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/4 1/4tsp tspground nutmeg
1 pinch salt 1 1pinch pinchsalt
3/4 cup butter , softened3/4 3/4cup cupbutter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar 1 1cup cuppacked brown sugar
1/3 cup strawberry jam 1/3 1/3cup cupstrawberry jam
2 tbsp fancy molasses 2 2tbsp tbspfancy molasses
5 eggs 5 5eggeggs
1-1/2 cups chopped walnut halves 1-1/2 1-1/2cups cupschopped walnut halfwalnut halves

Preparation

Tropical White Christmas Cake recipe (for almond paste and icing ingredients).

In large bowl, combine currants, mixed peel, pineapple, cherries, raisins and 3/4 cup (175 mL) of the brandy; cover and let stand for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

Line base and sides of 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) metal cake pan with double thickness parchment paper. Set aside.

In bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt ; remove 1/2 cup (125 mL) and toss with fruit mixture.

In separate bowl, beat together butter, sugar, jam and molasses until fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in remaining flour mixture all at once just until incorporated. Add fruit mixture and walnuts; stir to combine. Scrape into prepared pan, smoothing top.

Set shallow pan on bottom rack of 300°F (150°C) oven; pour in enough water to come halfway up sides of pan. Bake cake on centre rack for 1 hour. Lay foil loosely over cake; bake until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean but a little sticky, 45 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack.

Remove cake from pan; peel off paper. Soak double-thickness 16-inch (40 cm) square of cheesecloth in remaining brandy; wrap around cake. Wrap in plastic wrap then foil. Refrigerate for 1 month. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 3 months.) Cut crosswise into 6 bars.

Source : Canadian Living Special Issue: Holiday Best 2004