The Ultimate Organic Christmas Cake
by Sue Verstraten

If you're thinking about making a Christmas cake this festive season, here's a foolproof, moist cake that tastes as if you were ready weeks ago and your cake has matured beautifully! Try to use as many organic ingredients as you can.

Ingredients:
380 g raisins
180 g pitted prunes
160 g sultanas
90 g figs, chopped
90 g currants
90 g pitted dates
1/2 cup brandy (extra for brushing, or use orange juice)
300 g butter, chopped
400 g raw sugar
2 tspns bicarbonate of soda
375 mL water
2 tspns nutmeg
2 tspns cinnamon
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2-1/2 cups plain flour
1.5 cm fresh ginger, finely grated (optional)
100 g pecan halves (optional)
50 g raw almonds (optional)

Method:
Soak fruit in brandy overnight if possible; otherwise, just combine fruit with brandy.

Melt butter over medium heat in pan large enough to hold all the cake ingredients. Add sugar and stir for 1–2 minutes to dissolve. Add fruit, bicarbonate of soda and water and combine.

Turn up heat to medium-high and bring to the boil without stirring. Reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes. The mixture will froth, so turn heat down if needed. Allow mixture to cool in the pan.

Turn oven to 150°C (fan forced) or 180°C (conventional). Grease a 24-cm round springform pan, and line base and sides with baking paper rubbed with butter.

Add spices and eggs into cooled mix. Sift in flour and stir; then leave to rest for a few minutes. Pour mix into springform pan and spread out to level surface. If using nuts, gently push them just into the surface in any pattern you like.

Bake for 2.5 hours or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre. During baking time, check at about the first hour. If the cake is a rich brown colour, cover loosely with foil so it won't burn.

Remove cake from oven when cooked. While still hot, poke the surface 10 times with a skewer and brush with brandy or orange juice. This will keep the cake very moist. Remove springform pan and leave cake to cool, keeping the baking paper intact until you're ready to cut the cake.

To store, cover surface with baking paper and then wrap cake in plastic or foil. You can keep this cake in the fridge for up to a month.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year ahead!

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", Dec 2005/Jan 2006; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]