31 tasks

Completed Task #4: Cake

Christmas has come early.  Ten and a half months early in fact, with the completion of the fourth Task: Cake.  What began as a humble fruit cake morphed into a boozy Christmas cake which the ‘Masterchef’ boys would possibly describe as “packed with BIG flavours”, “deep, rich, velvety goodness”…or maybe “just one too many ingredients”.

Whatever the outcome, one thing is for sure…”baking doesn’t get tougher than this!”.

Before...(note: photo may not accurately represent recipe. A forward thinker would have taken the shot before using up many of the ingredients. You live and learn...)

We begin with a pile of ingredients and a recipe, passed down from mother to son for at least one generation.  Amended slightly, here it is:

A few days before making the cake, put all the fruit into an airtight box and cover with the beer.  Leave in a cool place for the fruit to absorb the beer.  Sounds good already.

On the big day, prepare a loose-bottomed 9-inch cake tin by greasing the inside, lining the base with a disc of baking paper and securing two more layers of paper around the outside (yes, the outside – I know not why) of the tin.  When baking, add another layer of paper between the tin and the baking tray and save a final disc to cover the top of the cake part-way through cooking.  If you’ve read this far and found you don’t have any baking paper, it’s probably best to pop out and get some.

Now the fun begins: put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and cream together, beating robustly until you have a fluffy, malleable goo.  Whisk each egg and beat this into the mixture a little at a time.  You may find it curdling, forming tiny lumps, slightly – but the strong-willed should keep beating and drop in the occasional pinch of flour to help bind the mixture together, leaving it with a smooth texture.

Next, mix the flour with the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and fold this into the egg mixture as gently as possible.  Stir in the beery dried fruit and try to ignore the fact that there appears to be far, far too much fruit.  It’ll all go in, be patient.  Finally stir in the ground almonds, chopped nuts, black treacle and lemon zest along with a drop of any unabsorbed beer.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth over the top.  Lick spoon.  Place the whole nuts on top in your chosen pattern, whilst pre-heating the oven to 275°F, 140°C, gas mark 1.  Bake on the lowest shelf for 4-5 hours, placing the extra circle of baking paper on top after 3 hours.  When the top is firm but springy and a skewer comes out clean, it’s job done and it should look something like this: 

...during...

Leave the cake to cool in the tin before wrapping it in more baking paper and storing in an airtight box for anything from a few days to a couple of months.  At intervals during this time, use the skewer to make some narrow holes and drizzle a few teaspoons of brandy over the top, allowing it to soak in.  Marvellous.

Which left me with the final part of the task – the positive appraisal of a number of friends and colleagues.  I’m pleased to say that the cake was given a unanimous thumbs-up, as indicated here:

...and after.

One final slice has been kept for my Mum, who can enjoy the fully matured flavour.  She does, of course, hold the ultimate veto over the success of the task, but somehow I think I’m safe.

So, 4 down, 27 to go.  The graph starts a promising turn upwards, whilst the ‘days per task’ counter is also heading in the right direction.  I’ll just let Cake digest for a while and then perhaps another progress report…