Video:5 Tips for Making Classic British Christmas Cake
with Elaine LemmMaking a classic British Christmas cake on your own can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be! Watch this About.com video to see helpful tips for ensuring that it's a success.See Transcript
Transcript:5 Tips for Making Classic British Christmas Cake
Hi, I'm Elaine Lemm for About.com and today i'm going to show you 5 handy tips for making the perfect Christmas Cake.
Tip 1: Make Christmas Cake in Advance
My first tip is to make the cake well in advance. The sooner you can make the cake the better, 2 months is a very good lead in time to make a Christmas Cake. Doing it in advance means the cake has plenty of time to mature and also gives great opportunities for feeding the cake with brandy which you want to do from time to time in the run up to Christmas.
Tip 2: Prepare in Advance
My second tip is when you're ready to make the cake. There are a lot of ingredients in making a Christmas Cake and the key to success with this is to prepare everything in advance. Weigh and measure all your ingredients and prepare the cake tim by lining with greaseproof paper and the outside with newspaper.
Tip 3: Correctly Add the Eggs to the Christmas Cake Mixture
For my third tip, when you're making the cake, adding the eggs to the cake is quite crucial in that you do it a little bit at a time. Too much egg and the cake will curdle. You can bring the cake back by just adding about a tablespoon of flour, but seriously there are so many good ingredients in this cake, you really can't go wrong.
Tip 4: Fill the Cake Tin One Spoonful at a Time
Tip four: when you're filling the cake tin with the mixture you need to do this a spoonful at a time, pressing very gently to make sure the mixture completely fills the tin and there are no air pockets. What we're after here is a beautiful, even shape to the finished cake.
Tip 5: Prevent Cake From Cooking Too Quickly
And my final tip is the cooking of the cake. You've already wrapped the cake tin with newspaper, you also need to stand the cake on a double layer of newspaper in the oven. This is to insulate the cake and to prevent it from cooking too quickly. Don't try and rush the cooking, it needs a long slow cook, as what we want is a beautiful dark golden brown cake, all evenly coloured. Perfect!