Whiskey Fed Christmas Cake - The Preparation

And so I did start with the Christmas Cake

Add half a bottle of whiskey* to 450g of Dried Fruit** cover with cling film and pop it into the hot press for a day or so take it out and stir it every once in a while (twice a day) so that all of the fruit gets a chance to plump up and get a little drunk.  Think of it like a tea brack looking at you cross eyed!  By the time you get to mixing up this cake the whiskey will have combined with the sugars from the fruit to create an unctuous syrup.

*Jameson Whiskey

**This years dried fruit combination:
Dried Blueberries
Dried Cranberries
Flame Raisins
Currants
Golden Sultanas
Sultanas

Christmas Cake

BTW My Christmas cake is not close to being baked. I have bought an impressive array of dried fruits I just need to get my hands on a bottle of Jameson will post when I get cracking.

The kitchen in the new house.

So it would appear all my promises of Christmas baking have been lies till now.  I've just moved house and I've been working on getting that into order.  The old kitchen in the new house is significantly smaller than the kitchen in the house we were renting.  We have a room now ready to house a swanky new kitchen but cant afford to kit it out (because as it turns out there was nothing holding the slates (roof tiles), on being that the slats had dissolved!).  The old kitchen in the new house is a double galley kitchen and works really well if one person is cooking, everything is in easy reach.  Small kitchens can be a blessing in disguise.  In renting over the past 12 years we got really, really good at designing efficient kitchens.

1st Goal - Storage
Its really difficult to find stuff.  Most of it was packed away in chest of drawers (my clothes are from the laundry or a skip bag at the moment - ironing was never a high priority).  Two big billy bookcases took a large chunk of the storage needs from the garage and later down the line we can look at buying doors for them.

2nd Goal - Clear Counter Tops
We went to Ikea and got a bunch of rails and hooks to deal with my obscene need to have utensils (there are 20 filled hooks and we still need more).   We bought a magnetic strip for the knives and got rid of the knife block.  We discovered that the Goodalls spice/herb tins are magnetic so we will probably pick up some more magnetic strips.  I have other hook mounted spice jars that everything else can go in.  My weighing scales is wall mounted and I have one of those plastic bag storage thingys.  The hand blender went up on the wall too and we've run out of wall space.

Whats left to do in the old kitchen...

3rd Goal - Brighten the place up a bit
There are solid wood doors and crap cabinets.  Sugarsoap, Sand, Undercoat and Paint the Cabinets.  Get rid of the current light fitting (the roof is 6'6" and the other half is 6'5") and insert under cabinet lighting and lighting over the food prep/serving area.

4th Goal - Finishes
I will paint the center panel for some of the cabinets with blackboard paint for shopping lists and menus (I have a painfully bad memory).  Some of the tiles need re-sticking and I need to paint the little bits that need painting.  The final thing is that the cooker needs a splashback.  I like the stainless steel ones for practical reasons.

Christmas is coming...and I'll be getting fat ;)

About this time every year I get to thinking about Christmas or at least the food part of Christmas which is my favourite.

The reason I am thinking about Christmas so early is because I like a mature Christmas cake.  Many families have their own cake recipes and mine is no exception and in the spirit of generosity I will give you my Mamas recipe which is essentially an Oxford Lunch.  My own recipe for Christmas cake kind of evolved from that and became something else entirely.  My cake is a whiskey fed Christmas cake and the 9" round cake takes an entire bottle of Jameson over the following few months.  Last year I made almond paste for the first time (again with the whiskey) and it tasted infinitely better than the crap that I've been buying in the shops for years and it's really easy to make too.  Theres also a guide on how to apply almond paste.  This year I'll take a crack at making fondant for the first time and let you know how I get on.

I made Christmas puddings with my Mama every year but have never made one of my own.  This year I'll make a crack at it and I also have a version of it that is Gluten, Dairy, Egg and Sugar Free that I'm going to try (for my sister in law Melina) and a dairy free cream that goes with that.  I have recipes on Mince pies from last year and of course whiskey/brandy butter.  I also have a recipe for Mincemeat Gingerbread that you should take a look at for an easy winter pud.

For edible decorations there is nothing nicer than gingerbread which can be made into tree decorations and gingerbread houses which make lovely gifts too.  There is a huge range of easy to make greatly appreciated edible gifts for the christmas too.  Sweets, truffles, fudge, biscuits. I'll make, bake and post over the next few months and you'll find everything under the Christmas Baking label on my blog.

Vanilla Syrup for Coffee

If you like vanilla latte this is the super easy recipe for the vanilla syrup that you put in coffee. Syrup can also be used for a vanilla sponge pudding or over fruit in a crumble, cobbler or eves pudding

2 Cups White Sugar
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar (I use a mix of demerara and soft brown at a ratio of 2:3)
21/2 Cups of Water
4 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1.  Mix the first 3 ingredients together and bring to the boil for at least 10 mins.  Give a little stir the first few times so that the sugars are dissolved properly.
2. Add vanilla extract and stir.  Allow to cool
3. Pour into a jug and into sterilised bottles (Kilner bottles are good but you can also use Grolsch bottles or similar style)