When Husband announced a couple of weeks ago that he was after a homemade Christmas cake this year I felt compelled to tell him to "Stand back, I've got this covered". We've never made our own, instead opting to buy the supermarket small brick version in the past. Husband loves Christmas cake whereas I don't like it at all, which is probably why we've never investigated making our own before. By sharp contrast, my Mum makes one (or two) religiously every year using the same time honoured recipe from this book by Zena Skinner dating back to 1977.

There really is no point in re-inventing the wheel so I borrowed the book and got stuck in. The book naturally falls open at the Christmas cake page and it has all manner of marks and stains from years of use. In fact I daresay it may well be the only recipe ever made from this book, but it is a classic and I imagine nothing would have changed since then whereas other recipes from '77 may well seem quite out-dated by now.

The first thing I noticed was the sheer volume of fruit was enormous compared to the batter.

Our 8" spring form cake tin finally got it's first outing which was good. We were very careful to use a double layer of greaseproof paper (baking paper would have been better, I have now been advised) so the cake wouldn't stick to the tin, plus two layers tied around the outside of the tin to avoid the cake burning. As it happens, my cake did still burn a bit around the sides anyway so I'll have t give it a little shave before it gets any further layers. For the time being it's sitting dormant in an airtight container, awaiting a little feed of rum every once in a while.

Just about to head into the oven

I  just hope that it’s going to be enjoyed in five weeks’ time!

Sophie