Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Advent Calendar 2010: December 14 - Fruit Cake

I love fruit cake! Not the brightly coloured ones filled with red and green candied cherries and bright yellow pineapple, but the dark, aged, brandy soaked, raisin, sultana and currant filled ones of my childhood.

Everyone in my family makes their Christmas cake the same, Grannie, Mum, Aunti Di, Jacqui and me. The cake is always baked months in advance so it can age properly and be fed brandy to keep it moist. A lovely thick layer of marzipan is glued on with apricot jam. Then the cake is decorated with royal icing in peaks like snowdrifts and wrapped with a wide red ribbon. I think we all do the peaks because it is much easier than getting a smooth finish. Little figures and silver dragees are added to create a wintry scene - a penguin, a child on a sled, and a snowman.

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