and things went downhill from there

Several years ago a (now late) friend gave me his secret recipe for Christmas cakes. I'd never got a chance to try the cakes, but I'd had good experiences with every other recipe I'd got from him, so I convinced him to part with their traditional family recipe. I made a batch of them a few years back, and they turned out really good -- and went over very well with everyone who tried them. At the coaxing of fetlock I decided to make them again this year, since they're really not that much work when compared against other Christmas baking projects.

I mixed up the various candied fruits and set them aside to soak in (about twice the called-for) amount of brandy last night, and then fetlock came over this morning to help with the rest of the project. We were a little concerned when we mixed the batter and fruits because we only had ten miniature cake tins, and it looked like enough batter for twelve. In the end it turned out to be just enough for eight (which, if I remember correctly, was the same as the last time I made these).

As with the last time, the extra brandy in the fruit upped the baking time a bit, but unlike the previous batch, these ones cooked through before the cakes burned around the edges. In fact they came out as near perfect as one could hope. I varied the recipe a little from the last time I made these, adding a couple of the optional ingredients I'd left out of the first batch. It's possible that those extra ingredients may have acted as sponges for the excess moisture during cooking this time around. In any event, I'm pleased.


Here they are, fresh out of the oven. The whole house was awash with the smell of brandy and cinnamon. Since neither of us had eaten prior to making these cakes, it was a struggle to keep from eating one of them to test for quality. atara was home from work by this time, so the three of us wandered outside to do some autumn yard work (just in time, based on the latest weather reports) and then we wandered up to Olive Garden for dinner while they cooled. We returned home, sated from supper, and thus managed to finish the cake-making progress without risk of eating one in the process.


This was my own little innovation on the recipe. Although it called for them to be wrapped in plastic and foil, I first wrapped them in cheese cloth and rolled them in a bath of brandy before wrapping them. I figured that would help to keep them from drying out -- and more brandy in the cakes never hurts. We miscalculated though, and ran out of both cheese cloth and brandy after six cakes. At first we considered just following the recipe at that point, but it seemed a shame not to lace them with a bit more booze. After a bit of consideration we wrapped the last two in coffee filters, and soaked them in a bath of Sheep Dip. We marked those ones with a special notation. I'm curious to see how they turn out.


Here they are wrapped up and ready for storage. I have a Tupperware container that is exactly large enough to hold eight cakes of this size (how convenient!). They are supposed to sit and cure for about two months before they're ready for eating, which is why I set aside this weekend to make them. They should be in prime condition just in time for Christmas.