LAST MINUTE MADNESS
After finishing work last Friday, life has been a haze of Christmas drinks, crazed shopping and wondering what day of the week it is. This morning I realised I'd completely forgotten to make a Christmas cake. So, today is a kitchen day with BBC 4, mulled wine and my mother's amazing "Cheat's" Christmas cake recipe which short-cuts all the overnight dry fruit soaking with a simple jar of Christmas mince. Fabulous Nigella Lawson also has a similar recipe in "Feast" which she unashamedly calls The Non Cake-Maker's Christmas Cake. Here is the recipe I use - eaten "natural" with a dusting of icing sugar or finished off with a plonky Cognac Butter icing. Cheat's Christmas Cake 125 gr butter 225 gr soft dark brown sugar 175 gr flour 100 gr ground almonds 2 t baking powder zest of a lemon zest of an orange 4 T cognac 2 eggs 400 gr Christmas mincemeat 1/2 cup sultanas 1/2 cup whole almonds Preheat oven 175°. Whizz butter and sugar ...