Creole Christmas Cake

About 7 days before you want to make the cake, measure out all the pre-soaking ingredients into a large saucepan, ticking them off as you add them as it’s so easy to leave something out!

Now place the mixture over a medium heat and bring it up to simmering point, giving everything a good stir. Then turn the heat down to very low and let everything simmer without covering for about 15 minutes. After that remove the pan from the heat and let everything get completely cold. Then transfer the mixture to an airtight plastic container and leave it in the fridge for a week, giving it a shake or a stir from time to time.

When you want to bake the cake, pre-heat the oven to 140°C, gas mark 1.

Then sift the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar, butter and eggs and, using an electric hand whisk (or a wooden spoon), beat until everything is thoroughly blended. After that gradually fold in the soaked mixture until it’s all evenly distributed. Now transfer the mixture to the prepared tin, and level with a back of a spoon. Place the cake near the centre of the oven and bake it for 3 hours, then cover with a double thickness of baking parchment, resting it on top of the liner, and bake it for another hour, until the centre feels springy. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 45 minutes, then transfer it to a wire cooling tray to cool. When it’s absolutely cold, wrap it in parchment-lined foil, and store in an airtight tin or polythene box.

Note: if you would like to make a smaller Creole cake, use half the mixture with 3 medium eggs and bake in an 18cm round tin for 2 hours and 50 minutes, covering with parchment after the first 2 hours.