Back in November, I embarked on the yearly ritual of making the Christmas cake, you can find original recipe and write up here.

I decided to top the cake with the traditional brushing of apricot jam, a layer of marzipan and then royal icing (3 egg whites and 600g of icing sugar).  I marzipanned on the 23rd and iced on the 24th.  The icing was a little runny, but luckily it managed to stick.

We were all too full on the 25th to tackle the cake, so tucked in on boxing day. I fed the cake (very generously!) once a week leading up to Christmas, and as soon as I cut into it, the port hit me! You really only need a small slice at a time – I promise! – it is so rich! Its super sticky and heavy, as the  recipe states, it is decadent.

I do recommend toping with a layer of icing, as this helps to break up the density of the cake.

It is still very much a traditional Christmas fruit cake recipe, it looks, smells and tastes like one.  If I do make this recipe again, I may double the amount of chocolate that goes in, as I feel this does get lost (or maybe I just put too much port in!).

One things for sure, I will be tucking into this over the next few weeks and taking some into work so that it’s not wasted!

The original recipe is here

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!