Baking a Christmas Cake for the First time

Thursday the 21st October was the nominated day for the making of my first ever Christmas Cake. For the last 50+ years my Mum always baked one but now she is gone I decided it was  time.

Being a bit of an analytical person I took my Mums handwritten recipe and her Mary Berry cookery book and then combined the two by putting them into a spreadsheer!

Here is the Cookery book with spreadsheet inserted and tape measure for checking tin size.

Then I got all my ingredients out and placed them on the kitchen surface in my unique orderly fashion.

The night before, Mary Berry said, put all the dry fruit in a bowl and spoon over brandy.

I duly piled it all in and then looked at the bowl in stunned silence its never going to fit.

I knew it would all look more do-able in the morning so I slept on it. Following day I looked at the bowl of fruit and then back at the greased and lined 8inch deep cake tin . Its never going to fit. There was only one thing for it. I piled all the fruit into an identical cake tin to see how full it looked. It was fine.

Then I used my lovely new food mixer to mix up the Butter Sugar Flour Eggs 'Oh good grief even more stuff to fit in the little tin.

I decided to sit on the floor with my two big bowls of stuff and combine the two. Please note what a good girl I am. The old Road Atlas is being recycled as a mat on the carpet as well as many other tasks it performs.

Mums recipe said to add the brandy at the end and said add milk to get to dropping consistency. Well Mary had already got me to add the brandy to the fruit so I thought what the heck and added a splash of milk and a splash of brandy.

Well like the Tardis Mums square cake tin did the deed and it all fitted. Cooking time was 4 to 41/2 hours and four hours later here it is. Now apparently I have to keep it wrapped and feed it brandy ever couple of weeks.

Both Mum and Mary said spoon brandy over the cooled cake so I did.