Recipe for White Christmas Cake

This white Christmas cake, with its layer of crisp frosting, is a delicious alternative for those who do not like the traditional fruit cake. It is best made not more than a week before Christmas.

140g (5oz) butter

200g (7oz) flour

¼ tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

1 tsp Irish whiskey

1 tsp lemon juice

85g (3oz) ground almonds

6 egg whites

225g (8oz) caster sugar

85-110g (3-4oz) green or yellow cherries

55g (2oz) finely-chopped homemade candied peel

White frosting: 1 egg white 225g, (8oz) granulated sugar, 4 tbsp water

18cm (1 x 7 inch) round tin with a 7.5cm (3 inch) side

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/regulo 3. Line the tin with greaseproof paper. Cream the butter until very soft. Sieve in the flour, salt and baking powder, then add the lemon juice, whiskey and ground almonds. Whisk the egg whites until quite stiff; add the caster sugar gradually and whisk again until stiff and smooth.

Stir some of the egg white into the butter mixture and then carefully fold in the rest.

Lastly, add the chopped peel and the halved cherries. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1½ hours approx. Allow to cool, cover and ice the next day.

To make the white frosting: This delicious icing is a little tricky to make, so follow the instructions exactly.

Quick and accurate decisions are necessary in judging when the icing is ready and then it must be used immediately. Dissolve the sugar carefully in water and boil for 1½ minutes approx — until the syrup reaches the ‘thread stage’, 106-113C/223-236F. It will look thick and syrupy; when a metal spoon is dipped in, the last drops of syrup will form a thin thread. Pour this boiling syrup over the stiffly-beaten egg white, whisking all the time. Put the bowl in a saucepan over simmering water. Continue to whisk over the water until white and very thick (this can take up to 10 minutes). Spread quickly over the cake with a palette knife. It sets very quickly at this stage, so speed is essential.

Decorate with Christmas decorations, crystallised violets or rose petals and angelica.