I made my Christmas Cake the other day, following my Mum's recipe. It's full of fruit and cherries. I have tried it in previous years to absolute disastrous results as I think my thermostat had really broken on my old oven so any cake that had to stay in over 30 mins came out black. But now I have a new oven.
I lined the cake tin, I mixed the cake ingredients and in it went for 3 hours at a very low heat and came out with not one burnt mark. My Mum's tip to cover the top with milk before it goes in the oven to prevent scorching worked a treat.
I am feeding it now with alcohol and resisting the temptation to cut into it to see if it's as deliciously moist and flavoursome as my Mums used to be...only 5 or 6 weeks to go. I will then inexpertly plonk some marzipan on top, sprinkle with glitter and other small cakey decorations that I can purchase in a tube at the supermarket and then stand my little models of a stag and fawn on top. You can tell I don't go in for brilliant decoration - more rustic is my approach.
Don't know whether to cut into it in the immediate build-up to Christmas and have with mince pies on offer for guests and risk it disappearing before Christmas Day or wait until the big day itself.
Think I'll have to make two.