It's Christmas! Time to get your apron on, your mixing bowls out and pre heating that oven as its time to bake to Christmas Cake!
But how about making a Christmas Cake with a little bit of a difference this year? Sound good?
Well I have an amazing recipe for Ginger Christmas Cake from Opies.
They have some wonderful ingredients perfect to add to a Christmas Cake recipe to spice it up this year and they sent me some of these to try.
I was sent some Stem Ginger in Syrup, Crystallised Stem Ginger, Cocktail Cherries and Pickled Walnuts.
I will definetly be using some of these to make some special Ginger Christmas Cake this year.
Here is the recipe...
Ingredients:
75ml Ginger Wine plus extra for ‘feeding’
200g Opies Crystallised Stem Ginger roughly chopped
200g Currants
50g Opies Cocktail Cherries roughly chopped
200g Dark Muscovado Sugar
280g Opies Stem Ginger in Syrup
3 Medium Free Range Eggs
250g Self Raising Flour
1 tablespoon Ground Mixed Spice
For the Marzipan layer:
20g Reserved Stem Ginger Syrup
500g Marzipan
For the Royal Icing layer:
500g Icing Sugar
3 Egg Whites
Juice of ½ a Lemon
1 teaspoon Glycerine
You will need one 15cm/6inch cake tin, greased and lined on the bottom and insides with baking paper and wrapped in a couple of sheets of newspaper. Place a slim wad of newspaper on the shelf of your oven shelf to sit the cake on too to protect it whist baking.
1. The night before (or at least a couple of hours before – the longer ahead of time you do this, the better…) place the chopped stem ginger and currants and ginger wine into a bowl. Cover and allow to soak overnight.
2. The next day: Set the oven to 150C oven, 140C fan
In a large bowl, place the softened unsalted butter and dark muscovado sugar. Cream together until light and fluffy.
3. Whisk the eggs together, and add to the creamed butter and sugar mixture a tablespoon at a time, beating well in between additions.
4. Rinse the cherries in water – dry with kitchen paper and add to the weighed flour, this will stop them sinking to the bottom of the cake.
5. Pour 20g of the syrup from the Stem Ginger Jar and set to one side. (You will need this to spread over the cake after baking). Place the rest of the jar – syrup and Stem Ginger pieces into a food processor or blender and whizz until you have a puree. (It doesn’t have to be exceptionally smooth.)
6. Then gently fold in the flour and chopped cherries, the mixed spice, then the soaked fruit and Crystallised Stem Ginger and lastly the pureed stem ginger in syrup.
7. Scoop the mix into the prepared tin, smooth the surface and place on the newspaper in the preheated oven. Bake for 2 hours.
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin for around 15 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
9. You can then ‘feed’ your cake with extra booze should you choose to. Create tiny holes in the top with a tooth-pick and weekly, drizzle a couple of tablespoons full of Ginger wine into the holes. Wrap between feeds and keep in a cool place.
10. Once ready to ice, with a pastry brush, brush a thin layer of the reserved ginger syrup over the cake. Fill any holes with little pieces of marzipan and then roll out the block of marzipan to ½ cm thick and lay over cake. Trim the edges and leave to set for a few hours or overnight.
11. To make your royal icing: place the icing sugar, the egg whites and glycerine into a large bowl and preferably with a stand mixer or electric hand whisk, whisk until stiff peaks form.
12. Place icing into a piping bag.
You can ice the cake however you like, It looks great to splodge the icing on to the marzipan layer in little piped peaks all over, but be creative! The icing will set hard, but not teeth crackingly hard – due to the addition of the glycerine in the mix. You can find this in the supermarkets cake and baking sections. It comes in a tiny little bottle. The icing will also help to keep the cake fresh and delicious until you decide to crack it open. What a joy!
Opies Stem Ginger in Syrup (350g £2.50) & Crystallised Ginger (200g £2.35) are both available from Tesco
Opies Cocktail Cherries (225g from £1.49) are available from all major supermarkets.
Would you like to win a Christmas bundle of Opies Food? Includes Opies Stem Ginger in Syrup, Crystallised Ginger, Opies Cocktail Cherries and some pickled Walnuts. Enter on the Gleam app below to WIN!
Win a Selection of Opies Foods
Mmm I love Opies cocktail cherries! Sounds lovely and looks delicious! Mmmm I could just eat a slice!
ReplyDeleteYes it sounds great
ReplyDeleteI'd love to may not have time before Christmas
ReplyDeleteGinger cake is my favourite
Yes. I'll give it a try.
ReplyDeleteMore likely to pass recipe on to friends who enjoy baking.
ReplyDeleteRachel Craig
I would win 'best wife of the year' award if I managed to make this as my hubby absolutely LOVES ginger!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to make this but only OH & I like ginger and we could both do with losing a few pounds, so unfortunately............
ReplyDeleteGreat recipe. Must try
ReplyDeleteYes I want to try it
ReplyDeleteid love to make this x
ReplyDeleteIt will definitely go into my recipe collection
ReplyDeleteI think my daughter and I might give it a go
ReplyDeleteI would love to try this
ReplyDeletei would love to have a bash at it
ReplyDeleteI would love to try it although we already have a recipe for Christmas cake this year so maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteI've already done my cake this year but I'll give it a whirl next
ReplyDeleteyes i will give it ago x
ReplyDeleteMy mum LOVES ginger cake!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to :)
ReplyDeleteYes I want to try it
ReplyDeleteI would love to try the recipe but it will be next year.
ReplyDeleteI'll be trying chocolate guiness cake this year!
ReplyDeleteyeah i would love to have a go at it
ReplyDeleteYesss
ReplyDeleteI would love to give it ago for sure.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Clarkson
ReplyDeleteI would try this recipe in the new year. It sounds delicious.
I would love to try this for next Christmas (though I would have a go before then!).
ReplyDeleteHazel Rea @beachrambler
Lovely recipe and i do make my own ginger cake. If i made this i would keep the marzipan and omit the royal icing which i'm not too keen on
ReplyDeleteI'd try the recipe definitely
ReplyDeleteI will try the recipe
ReplyDeleteYes most definitely but with my friend’s help as she’s a great baker!
ReplyDeletesounds like a recipe we could have a go at xx
ReplyDeleteYes, it looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteBit too late for this Christmas but may give it a go next year!
ReplyDeleteYes, deffo!
ReplyDeleteDefinately, it looks lovely
ReplyDeleteCake's not just for Christmas, now I've seen it I will definitely be trying it out
ReplyDeleteWould love to , I've never made a Christmas cake before x
ReplyDeleteyes plz :) great prize
ReplyDeletelooks very inviting so would like to give it a go
ReplyDeleteNo I'm useless at baking and I don't have an oven at the moment
ReplyDeleteAs much as I would like to, I have very little time. My wife will though.
ReplyDeleteHow much 'extra booze' is too much? :)
ReplyDeleteIt looks lovely, but I tend to use the same Christmas cake recipe every year
ReplyDeleteOh yes. Love ginger
ReplyDeleteI would love to try this recipe next year.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great recipe and would love to give it a go.
ReplyDeleteI won't, trying to cut down on sweet treats now, but I'll pass this on to my mum, she loves ginger.
ReplyDeleteyes it looks and sounds lovely, my kids would love it
ReplyDeleteyes I would love to try this recipie, I have always wanted to make my own christmas cake, thanks x
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of christmas cake but I'll pass it on to my mum
ReplyDeleteYes it sounds lovely
ReplyDeleteI might but I do have a fruit cake recipe that I have baked many times and it usually turns out well!
ReplyDeleteI love ginger cake so will definitely have to give this a try!
ReplyDeleteI ended up buying my cake last Christmas but this would be a recipe to try this year
ReplyDeleteSound good def worth a try
ReplyDeleteNot this year, but by next Christmas I shall have my new kitchen so hopefully yes, this year!
ReplyDeleteI'll have a go when I get a bit more time
ReplyDeleteYes sounds good
ReplyDeletelove giving new receipes a try
ReplyDeleteI've saved this recipe so will definitely be making it for next Xmas
ReplyDeleteI just need an excuse to make this. Pity my family aren't cake eaters
ReplyDeleteI might give it a go in the future
ReplyDeleteLooks lovely, would definitely try it
ReplyDeleteI might do
ReplyDeleteYes it sounds delicious
ReplyDeleteLove cooking and will definitely give the recipe a try. The cherries remind me of snowballs back in the 80s that dad made x
ReplyDeleteyes it sounds delicious, I love ginger cake
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds absolutely delicious, but I'd probably never get around to baking it.
ReplyDelete@jaizduck
Yes, I might do :)
ReplyDeleteYES WILL BE TRYING IT
ReplyDeleteLooks gorgeous, thanks for sharing, Hope to try!
ReplyDeleteI might make it for my sister's birthday. She loves ginger cake. Looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteThis looks delicious. I'd like to say I would try and make it, but I really am lazy in the kitchen and rarely make things myself.
ReplyDeleteyes I would try with my husband
ReplyDeleteyummy yes please
ReplyDeleteThis looks a delicious cake, I think I will be trying it
ReplyDeleteI love ginger cake so will have to try this recipe, but without the icing as I'm not a fan.
ReplyDeleteNot sure. I like my current recipe. This would be nice for a change though
ReplyDeleteI'll need to up my skills first but this looks great so I would like to try :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to try this , looks amazing
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love this!
ReplyDeleteunsure because family are funny about fruit cake
ReplyDeletewould love to give it a try
ReplyDeleteI could eat cocktail cherries straight from the jar they are so tasty!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like my kind of recipe but I'm not that great a baker so not sure I'll have the energy to try it!
ReplyDeleteYes it sounds a nice recipe to try out on the family
ReplyDeleteI would love to give this recipe a try xx
ReplyDeleteIf I win, you can just send the Ginger. I love ginger...and cherries...just send the ginger & cherries...and the...just send it all.
ReplyDeleteYes i'd definitely try this :D x
ReplyDeleteYes sounds great I love trying new things xx
ReplyDeleteYes I think I will
ReplyDeleteIt sounds delicious and would like to try it
ReplyDeleteYummu!
ReplyDeleteIt looks beautiful and so yummy, almost to good to eat, you make it sound so easy xxx
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to make this this December!!
ReplyDelete