Weekend food with Darina Allen
Its seems to have crept up on me and I haven’t cooked a single thing yet.
In this column I will give a variety of Christmas cake and some pudding recipes.
The richest can be made this weekend while the others can be whipped up closer to the time.
This year I have decided to bake two layers of almond paste into my rich fruit cake.
I adore almond paste, it’s really easy to make and adds moistness and richness to the cake.
As ever, fantastic ingredients make a fantastic cake. Use fine Irish butter, really good eggs, organic or least free range, and best quality plump dried fruit.
A rich fruit cake keeps brilliantly for months.
I love a finger of cake with a cup of tea or strong coffee, but not everyone wants to have the remains of the Christmas cake — no matter how delicious — in a tin for months. So, why not consider making three smaller cakes from one recipe this year — keep one for yourself and wrap the others in lots of tinsel and tissue — perfect presents for busy friends.
The same can apply to plum puddings.
The recipe here makes 12 x ½ pint puddings, each of which serves two greedy people or four who would enjoy just a few juicy morsels of plum pud.
So this weekend gather up the ingredients, root out the wooden spoon, pudding bowls and cake tins, gather the children around and have a fun baking session and pass on the skills at the same time.
Stollen is a favourite German Christmas Cake with a layer of almond paste baked into the centre.
Makes 2 700g (1 1/2lb) cakes
Brandied Fruit:
150g (5oz) mixed sultanas and currants
75g (3oz) diced candied cherries and citrus peel
1½ tbsp brandy
20g (3/4oz) fresh yeast (or 1 sachet dry yeast)
150ml (5fl oz) lukewarm milk
175g (6oz) strong white flour
75g (3oz) castor sugar
Grated rind 1/2 lemon
110g (4oz) softened butter
2 eggs
1 level tsp salt
275g (10oz) strong white flour
Marzipan:
75g (3oz) ground almonds
60g (2 1/2oz) castor sugar
1 tbsp egg white
Drop of almond essence
Melted butter
Icing sugar
Mix fruits, stir in brandy, cover with cling film and macerate overnight.
To mix yeast sponge, crumble fresh yeast into warm milk in a Pyrex bowl.
Allow yeast to soften. Mix in 175g (6oz) flour and beat well with a wooden spoon. }
Cover with Clingfilm and allow to rest for 30-45 minutes.
Place 75g (3oz) castor sugar in a mixer bowl, grate in lemon rind and rub into sugar with your fingertips.
Add butter and beat until creamy. Add eggs one at a time; add the salt and scrape down the bowl to make a soft creamed mixture.
When sponge is light and well risen, add to creamed mixture along with 275g (10oz) flour.
Scrape off K beater and replace with dough hook. Knead on moderate speed for 10 minutes until is silky and soft.
The dough should not stick to your fingers.
Remove hook, cover bowl with Clingfilm and allow dough to rise until doubled in size.
Knock back dough and scrape out onto a flour-dusted clean surface.
Flatten to 1cm (1/2 inch) and sprinkle brandied fruit on top.
Roll up like a Swiss roll and knead fruit through dough.
The dough may grow sticky, but avoid adding flour. Scrape fruited dough into a bowl, cover with Clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.
Prepare marzipan by mixing sugar, ground almonds and egg white.
Flavour with almond essence if desired. Knead to a lump, divide in half and roll each half into a log.
Next day, remove dough from the fridge. Scrape out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half.
Shape each half into an oval and roll out to 2cm (3/4 inch) thickness.
Make an indentation lengthways along the centre and place in long sausage shape piece of marzipan.
Fold the oval in half with long sides meeting. Press together and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place until light.
Bake at 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes or until deeply golden and tests done.
While hot, brush with melted butter and sift icing sugar thickly over the top. Cool well before slicing.
Will keep wrapped for 4-5 days and may be frozen.
Mary Jo’s Stollen
Stollen is a favourite German Christmas Cake with a layer of almond paste baked into the centre.
Makes 2 700g (1 1/2lb) cakes
Brandied Fruit:
150g (5oz) mixed sultanas and currants
75g (3oz) diced candied cherries and citrus peel
1½ tbsp brandy
20g (3/4oz) fresh yeast (or 1 sachet dry yeast)
150ml (5fl oz) lukewarm milk
175g (6oz) strong white flour
75g (3oz) castor sugar
Grated rind 1/2 lemon
110g (4oz) softened butter
2 eggs
1 level tsp salt
275g (10oz) strong white flour
Marzipan:
75g (3oz) ground almonds
60g (2 1/2oz) castor sugar
1 tbsp egg white
Drop of almond essence
Melted butter
Icing sugar
Mix fruits, stir in brandy, cover with cling film and macerate overnight.
To mix yeast sponge, crumble fresh yeast into warm milk in a Pyrex bowl.
Allow yeast to soften. Mix in 175g (6oz) flour and beat well with a wooden spoon. }
Cover with Clingfilm and allow to rest for 30-45 minutes.
Place 75g (3oz) castor sugar in a mixer bowl, grate in lemon rind and rub into sugar with your fingertips.
Add butter and beat until creamy. Add eggs one at a time; add the salt and scrape down the bowl to make a soft creamed mixture.
When sponge is light and well risen, add to creamed mixture along with 275g (10oz) flour.
Scrape off K beater and replace with dough hook. Knead on moderate speed for 10 minutes until is silky and soft.
The dough should not stick to your fingers.
Remove hook, cover bowl with Clingfilm and allow dough to rise until doubled in size.
Knock back dough and scrape out onto a flour-dusted clean surface.
Flatten to 1cm (1/2 inch) and sprinkle brandied fruit on top.
Roll up like a Swiss roll and knead fruit through dough.
The dough may grow sticky, but avoid adding flour. Scrape fruited dough into a bowl, cover with Clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.
Prepare marzipan by mixing sugar, ground almonds and egg white.
Flavour with almond essence if desired. Knead to a lump, divide in half and roll each half into a log.
Next day, remove dough from the fridge. Scrape out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half.
Shape each half into an oval and roll out to 2cm (3/4 inch) thickness.
Make an indentation lengthways along the centre and place in long sausage shape piece of marzipan.
Fold the oval in half with long sides meeting. Press together and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place until light.
Bake at 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes or until deeply golden and tests done.
While hot, brush with melted butter and sift icing sugar thickly over the top. Cool well before slicing.
Will keep wrapped for 4-5 days and may be frozen.
This recipe makes 2 large or 3 medium puddings. The large size will serve 10-12 people, the medium, 6-8, but I also like to make teeny weeny ones.
It has always been the tradition in our house to eat the first plum pudding on the evening it is made.
The grandchildren can hardly contain themselves with excitement — somehow that plum pudding seems the most delicious, it’s our first taste of Christmas.
The plum pudding can be made from about mid-November onwards. Everyone in the family helps to stir so we can all make a wish.
It’s fun to put silver plum pudding charms in the pudding destined to be eaten on Christmas Day.
Wrap them individually in silicone paper so they are bulky and clearly visible.
12 ozs (350g) raisins
12 ozs (350g) sultanas
12 ozs (350g) currants
12 ozs (350g) brown sugar
12 ozs (350g) white breadcrumbs (non GM)
12 ozs (350g) finely-chopped beef suet
4 ozs (110g) diced candied peel (preferably home-made)
2 Bramley cooking apples, coarsely grated
4 ozs (110g) chopped almonds
Rind of 1 lemon
3 pounded cloves (1/2 teaspoon)
A pinch of salt
6 eggs
2½ fl ozs (62ml) Jamaica Rum
Mix all the ingredients together very thoroughly and leave overnight; don’t forget, everyone in the family must stir and make a wish!
Next day stir again for good measure.
Fill into pudding bowls; cover with a double thickness of greaseproof paper which has been pleated in the centre, and tie it tightly under the rim with cotton twine, making a twine handle also for ease of lifting.
Steam in a covered saucepan of boiling water for 6 hours.
The water should come half way up the side of the bowl.
Check every hour or so and top up with boiling water if necessary.
After 5 hours, 3 hours, 2 hours depending on the size, remove the pudding.
Allow to get cold and re-cover with fresh greaseproof paper.
Store in a cool dry place until required.
On Christmas Day, or whenever you wish to serve the plum pudding, steam for a further 2 hours.
Turn the plum pudding out of the bowl onto a very hot serving plate, pour over some whiskey or brandy and ignite.
Serve immediately on very hot plates with brandy butter.
You might like to decorate the plum pudding with a sprig of holly; but take care not to set the holly on fire — as well as the pudding!
This makes a moist cake which keeps very well.
225g (8 ozs) butter
225 g (8 ozs) pale, soft-brown sugar or golden castor sugar
6 organic free-range eggs
285g (10 ozs) plain white flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
65 ml (2 1/2 fl ozs) Irish whiskey
340 g (12 ozs) best-quality sultanas
340 g (12 ozs) best-quality currants
340 g (12 ozs) best-quality raisins
110 g (4ozs) real glacé cherries
110 g (4ozs) homemade candied peel (see recipe)
55 g (2 ozs) ground almonds
55 g (2 ozs) whole almonds
rind of 1 organic unwaxed lemon
rind of 1 organic unwaxed orange
1 large or 2 small Bramley Seedling apples, grated no need to peel
Almond Paste
450 g (1 lb) ground almonds
450 g (1 lb) golden castor sugar
2 small organic or free-range eggs
a drop of pure almond essence
2 tablespoons Irish whiskey
Angelica, dried apricots, pecans, glacé cherries, peeled whole almonds,
To Brush on the Cake
Apricot Glaze – 12 ozs approx
1 x 9-inch or 3 x 7-inch round tins.
Line the base and sides of the tin/s with a double thickness of parchment paper.
Tie a double layer of brown paper around the outside of the tin/tins.
Have a sheet of parchment or brown paper to lay on top of each tin during cooking.
Wash the cherries and dry them gently. Cut in two or four as desired.
Blanch the almonds in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, rub off the skins and chop them finely.
Mix the dried fruit, nuts, ground almonds and grated orange and lemon rind. Add about half of the whiskey and leave for 1 hour to macerate.
First make the almond paste. Sieve the castor sugar and mix with the ground almonds.
Beat the eggs, add the whiskey and 1 drop of pure almond essence, then add to the other ingredients and mix to a stiff paste. (You may not need all of the egg). Sprinkle the worktop with icing sugar, turn out the almond paste and work lightly until smooth.
Preheat the oven to 150°C/315°F/gas mark 2 1/2.
Cream the butter until very soft, add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Whisk the eggs and add in bit by bit, beating well between each addition so that the mixture doesn’t curdle. Mix the spice with the flour and stir in gently. Add the grated cooking apple to the fruit and mix in gently but thoroughly (don’t beat the mixture again or you will toughen the cake).
Divide the mixture into three equal parts, put one part into the prepared cake tin.
Divide the almond paste into two; roll each into a round slightly smaller than the tin.
Lay one on top of the cake mixture, cover with another third of the mixture. Lay another round of almond paste and the remainder of the cake mixture.
If using smaller tins, divide each third of the mixture into 3 and the almond paste into six pieces and follow the method as above.
Make a slight hollow in the centre, dip your hand in water and pat it over the surface of the cake: this will ensure that the top is smooth when cooked.
Lay a double sheet of brown paper on top of the cake to protect the surface from the direct heat.
Put into the preheated oven. After one hour reduce the heat to 150C/300F/gas mark 2.
Bake until cooked; test in the centre with a skewer — it should come out completely clean after a further 3 hours approx, in total.
Pour the rest of the whiskey over the cake and leave to cool in the tin.
Next day remove from the tin. Do not remove the lining paper but wrap in some extra greaseproof paper and tin foil until required.
Store in a cool dry place, the longer the cake is stored the more mature it becomes.
A couple of days before Christmas remove the paper from the cake. ~
Brush with apricot glaze, arrange nuts and dried fruit in a circular pattern on top. Brush more apricot glaze over the nuts and fruit.
Wrap a ribbon around the edge and tie a bow. Place on a plate, admire your handy work and enjoy!
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
