A Vintage Australian Christmas Cake Recipe
Enjoy one of my family favourites with your own family this year.
Enjoy this Christmas Cake Recipe passed down from my Grandmother, to my mother, to me (possibly from an old McAlpin's Flour recipe book). It's simply delicious!
Here's my (slightly) updated version:
Here’s my version of the recipe:
1 ¼ cups self raising flour
2 ½ cups plain flour
¼ teaspoon salt
340 gm butter
240 gm castor sugar
6 eggs
4 tablespoons sherry, brandy or orange juice
1 kg mixed dried fruit
150 gm raisins
A few drops of vanilla essence
Prepare cake tin (large, square) by greasing then lining with two layers of brown paper and two layers of baking paper.
Sift flour and salt. Cream butter and sugar and then add eggs one at a time, beating each one in well. Add half the sifted ingredients and half the fruit, mix well then add remainder of flour and fruit. Add the liquid ingredients last.
Pour into tin and place on a low oven rack. (I place a folded newspaper under the tin to prevent the bottom cooking too quickly)
Bake at 125* degrees celsius for 3 hours. (This depends on your oven. My mum used to bake hers at 140 degrees. Watch carefully to make sure you don’t overcook.)
