Christmas cake

Guaranteed to make the house smell of Christmas.

You helped me to make this one, together with Philip and Judith. Everyone stirred, and made a wish with their eyes screwed up tight.

It makes an enormous amount of cake - enough for a 20cm cake tin, and a loaf tin - one to eat now, and one to feed and keep for Christmas. You'll need:

350g butter
350g soft dark brown sugar
350g plain flour
1kg of dried fruit - I used chopped apricots, quartered glace cherries, candied peel and some chopped prunes
5 large eggs
100g ground almonds
150g shelled hazelnuts
500g raisins/sultanas
5 tablespoons brandy (I wasn't allowed to use your Dad's armagnac, so I had to make do with some orange juice this time)
zest and juice of an orange and lemon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Line your cake tin(s) with greaseproof paper (which needs to come a few centimetres above the top of the tin). I ignored this bit and did it in silicon moulds - which was fine, but made for a rather chewy edge to the cake. Stick the oven on at 160 degrees C.

Beat the butter and sugar together until they turn light brown and fluffy. This is so much easier in a mixer, but you'll feel very virtuous if you spend 10 minutes working out your arm muscles instead.

Add the eggs to the mixture, and beat thoroughly. Then gradually add the ground almonds, hazelnuts and the dried fruit, pausing now and again to let your junior helpers have a try of everything. Mix in the zest, juice and brandy, and then fold in the flour/baking powder.

Scrape into the tin(s) and marvel at the sheer amount of mixture. Bung in the oven for 1 hour at 160 degrees C, then turn the oven down to 150 degrees C and continue to bake for another 2 hours. You might need to place a sheet of greaseproof paper over the top of the cake if it looks like it's browning too fast.

Poke a hole in the cake with a skewer - if it comes out clean, then it's done. Leave to cool, and then remove from the tin.

Wrap in greaseproof paper then foil, and place in a airtight tin. I tend to feed mine a little brandy every week or two from now until Christmas - make a few small holes in the top with a skewer, and then drizzle a little brandy over the cake. It'll be nicely sozzled by the time you want to eat it.