a special cake

 I'm making this cake for my mother's 50th birthday, which is coming up in a few weeks. The cake improves with keeping so I thought a good 6 weeks would do nicely. This is the third time I've used a Christmas cake recipe from this book and it's a good one! (Just discovered the author has provided FREE recipes online). It makes a huge cake (fits a 10 inch tin well) as it uses a pound each of flour, sugar, butter, raisins, sultanas, currants and a whole lot of extras.

I adjusted the ingredients slightly, substituting fresh NZ walnuts and some pistachios in place of the almonds. I also used some glorious huge golden raisins, some raz cherries, goji berries, cranberries and various other types of raisins. Yep, the ingredients for this cake cost a lot, including the 9 eggs (yes, 9!) but I think my Mum's worth it.

You can see some of the brands I used here:

I especially love the Angas Park brand, the figs I used here, but all their range is fantastic, juicy, yum.

Did I mention it makes a big cake? I had to borrow my aunty's baking bowl again. It's so tough to stir at the end they recommend using your hand, and that was truly the only way to get through it.

Cooked for 4 hours.

 My handy helper, he actually cracked every one of the 9 eggs himself, without spilling.

Smells amazing. The odours emanated from the cake the next day, then I wrapped it up in waxed paper.
I'll post again when I ice it - the usual almond paste icing topped with white butter-cream. I need to get creative with the decoration, perhaps fresh flowers for once, or some pearlised icing balls around the base...