Christmas Cooking

[stedeford]

Does anyone have a recipe for mini Christmas cakes/ I have seen one somewhere in the distant past but cannot remember where/

[aliamch]

Christmas Cake Recipe I used LJW's with great sucess

Karrie

 

We are going to do individual Christmas Cakes again as they are very popular and also manageable. Start saving tuna fish tins now though! Use a safety tin opener that seems to unglue lids rather than cut them and leave a sharp edge.

 

Decorating the top with ready roll icing and small cutters is really easy and makes each cake different and special. Older ones can also cut simple patterns into a cake band, eg snip a little frill around the edge of some shiny paper or tin foil. Lakeland sell little cellophane christmas bags for a reasonable price to make them look fab when you send them home.

Edited November 18, 2008 by aliamch

[Guest]

You can do them really well in deep muffin tins with a muffin case inside. Brush a little butter on the inside of the muffin case just to make sure that it doesnt stick. Also cut out a circle of greaseproof to put on top. I experimented this way last weekend whilst baking my own Christmas cake and they turned out really well. I messed around with tuna tins the other year and the muffin tin is much easier.

 

We used ready to roll icing and I found a large cutter that was exactly the side of the cake and they cut out the top. Then let them loose with icing tubes. Tied a large ribbon around the cake and wrapped in celophane. Just use any Christmas cake recipe but instead of the alcohol add more orange or lemon juice to keep moist.

[Guest]

Unfortunately we have basic cooking facilities at my pre-school - a microwave and two ring hob.

So last year I cooked a large 12 inch fruit cake at home and cut into smaller square cakes 3 x 3. Thay are perfect size for the children to decorate. We decorated the top with a square of rolled icing and then used royal icing to spread on top and make into snowy peaks (well that was the plan), we also used coloured rolled icing and a variety of cutters to make holly leaves, trees/stars etc or let them loose creating snowmen. We have also made cake boxes (simple box shape and let them loose in the craft workshop) they looked great. Just pop the cake in and they look fantastic. I have tried to find a photo but no luck yet I will keep trying.

The recipe for the cake was just a traditional rich fruit but have done an egg free version in the past which was okay!

Edited November 19, 2008 by Guest

[stedeford]

Thank you all so much for your replies, I am really looking forward to making them now. I am afraid I am not good at making up recipes, I like to know that they are going to wark! I will let you know how they turn out.

[Guest]

If you need a xmas cake recipe then Delias always works but could be quite expensive on ingredients

[Guest]

We let the children make their own individual cakes, we use pineapple tins as once used a tuna fish tin that hadn't been washed properly and you can imagine the smell - not too festive. We use the tin itself to cut out rolled icing. I will find the exact recipe that we use and post back soon, its something like a desertspoon of brown sugar, 6 spoons of mixed fruit etc. but each cake is very much the childrens own work. We wrap ribbon around the outside and cover in celophane, I remember getting the recipe from a 'getting started' course I did many, many moons ago.

 

I will get searching and post back later.

 

Debbie

[Guest]

ooh - if you can find the recipie I would like to use it too please - sounds like a fab idea and cant wait to make them and send them home with my little lot!

[Guest]

I used

 

This recipe is enough to make about 12 small cakes made in small baked bean tins. It can be made in a 10" square large tin and be cut to make smaller cakes.

 

9oz Plain Flour

6oz Brown Sugar

2oz Caster Sugar

6 Eggs

8oz Butter (room temperature)

I tbls Black treacle

1 tsp Vanilla essence

2 Tbls of Brandy(Optional) use squeezed orange juice instead

Juice of a lemon

Preheat Oven at 150ºC/200ºF Gas Mark 2

 

2lb Mixed Fruit

4-6oz Glace Cherries (chopped and folded into 1oz Plain flour)

 

Using a wooden spoon, cream the butter and both the sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs a little at a time and then add the combined sifted flour and spices, beating well to make sure that everything is combined.

 

Now add all the fruit and cherries and stir well, then add the final ingredients, the black treacle, vanilla essence, juice of the lemon and the orange juice, again stir well.

 

Spoon the mixture into the cans, there should be enough for 12 cans. Place the cans on the middle shelf of the pre-heated oven. Cook for approximately 1½hrs. Check after an hour, (as the cakes are small and ovens vary it is worth checking on them after an hour)

 

as I said above I tried this with deep muffin tins, lined with a muffin case (brushed with a little butter) They didnt take aslong, about 45 mins in my oven so please keep a careful check on them

[Guest]

Sorry it's taken me so long but here goes:

 

2 desert spoons of marg

2 desert spoons of brown sugar

mix together

add 1/2 beaten egg

add 2 heaped desert spoons of self raising flour

a sprinkle of mixed spice

add 5 desert spoons of mixed dried fruit

add 2 glace cherries and 1 apricot chopped

mix together

 

put mixture into a lined pineapple tin

 

cook at gas mark 6

160 degrees

 

can not find how long you cook it for, but if my mind serves me right it is about 50 minutes

 

Voila individual Christmas Cakes

 

top with roll out icing, using apricot jam to secure in place

wrap with ribbon around the sides and celophane all around

 

good luck

Debbie

[Guest]

Did anyone use the recipe, our cakes have just gone out to parents and they were delighted. They were even more amazed when they discovered that the children had made these cakes all on their own. I would love to be able to show you a finished article of our cakes but don't know how! Have got the photos but don't know how to upload them, any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

thanks

debbie