At 2am this morning, I woke in a mild sweat. What was worrying me was that I have all the ingredients for the Christmas cakes camping downstairs and the fruits had been sat in Brandy for several days already. I realised that there's only 12 1/2 weeks to go till Christmas. Unable to sleep, I ventured into the cool ambiance of the kitchen, recipe in hand, and I started on the Christmas cakes, helped by next door's cat, who has a habit of scratting on the back kitchen door at odd hours.
The recipe that I use is very much a standard, but with a few Wuffinga tweaks. As well as the mixed peel, I also use an equivalent amount of glace ginger as well as using a small amount of cocoa powder which gives the cakes a lovely rich, unctuous, flavour.
I managed to get them in the oven for about half past three, and they had finished baking just before breakfast. Here are the two cakes which resulted. After cooling these will be wrapped and will not see the light of day except for when more Brandy is added (I call this doping) during the run up to Christmas.
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