Feast days
...tOrtk."
ADVENT comes but once a year, but it seems to come round increasingly quickly. Those terrible switching on the lights cere- monies always give a sense of dread. Nevertheless, Advent is meant to be a time of preparation for the coming of the Christ Child and also for the festivities that go with it, so I thought you might make a Christmas cake this week. This is the best cake I have ever tasted, made by the wonderful lady who cares for my uncle, the 'Good Canon'. She is also a wild voyager.
Rich Christmas cake 18 oz currants
8 oz each sultanas and stoned raisins 4 oz mixed peel 6 oz glace cherries, halved 10 oz plain flour and a pinch of salt
1/2 level teaspoon each, mixed spice
cinnamon 10 oz butter 10 oz soft brown sugar the grated rind of 1/2 a lemon 6 well-beaten eggs 3 oz ground almonds 3 tablespoons brandy 1 tablespoon black treacle 2 tablespoons milk
Line a nine-inch cake tin with two layers of greaseproof paper and tie a double band of good brown paper around the outside of It. Mix all the fruit with the flour, salt and Spices. Cream the butter with the sugar and lemon rind until soft and creamy, the mixture should drop from the spoon with ease. Add the eggs little by little, beating well each time. Fold in half the flour and fruit until well amalgamated then fold in the other half together with the grated almonds and treacle and finally the brandy and milk. Pour into the cake tin, spreading evenly but making a slight dip in the centre. Preheat the oven to Gas 11/2, F 300, C149. Stand the tin on a layer of newspap- er just below the centre of the oven and bake for 5 to 51/2 hours. After 21/2 hours of the cooking time cover the top of the tin with about four layers of grease-proof paper to prevent over browning. Start testing at five hours with a skewer, which should come out clean after piercing the cake. When cooked, cool the cake in its tin on a rack then turn out. Before storing in a good airtight tin pierce the cake with a skewer or knitting needle in several places and drip a further 3 tablespoons of brandy into it with the aid of an eye dropper or
and
what you will.
Bonbons are another good thing to have around. Truffles are easy enough to make and half the cost of bought ones, which are quite often stale. Here are the irresistible ones a la Rubinstein.
Fresh cream truffles
1/4 pint thick double cream 1 vanilla pod 1 egg yolk 1 oz caster sugar 5 oz best plain chocolate (Menicr) 1 oz unsalted butter 1 tablespoon brandy, rum or Tia Maria or any liqueur or 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder 4 oz plain chocolate for coating pure cocoa powder 1 teaspoon of tasteless salad oil
Bring the cream to the boil with the split vanilla pod. Remove from the heat, cover and leave to infuse. Whisk the egg yolk (praying against salmonella) with the sugar until pale and thick. Whisk into the cream and return to the, heat very briefly to heat through, but be very careful not to boil. Keep whisking or you may scramble. Re- move from the heat and fish out the vanilla pod. Stir in the first five oz of chocolate, broken into pieces, until melted and well blended. Place in the refrigerator for about half an hour until set but not hard. Using an electric or hand rotary beater whisk the softened butter and whichever flavouring you fancy into the chocolate cream mix- ture. Put the mixture into a piping bag with a half-inch nozzle and pipe little sausage shapes or balls onto a plate or a tray covered in foil. If you don't have a piping bag do your best with teaspoons. Replace in refrigerator until set quite hard, about an hour and a half minimum. Sift onto a plate enough cocoa powder to coat the truffles. Melt the remaining chocolate with the salad oil in a little bowl set over hot water or a proper bain marie if available; let it cool a little. Using a fine two-pronged fork or two tooth-picks, dip each truffle into the melted chocolate, coat on all sides then roll immediately in the cocoa. Re- frigerate until wanted. Sooner the better, but will keep for up to three days.
Jennifer Paterson
Previous page
