Christmas Cake 2010

Christmas Cake 2010

• 3 Jan 2011

Have you heard about the Driver Reviver campaign? The drive from Brisbane to Sydney is more than 12 hours, so I stopped a few times for my reviving cup of tea. At the second stop, instead of a biscuit they were serving Lions Christmas cake. I normally forgo the biscuit but I gratefully accepted a piece of fruit cake.That piece of cake sustained me through the last 3 hours of the journey home.

Fruit cake is one of those cakes that you either love or loathe. I do like fruit cake but it must be moist and the worst review you can ever give a fruit cake is 'it's a bit dry'. I've been making the family Christmas Cake since I was 16 and I've only tried a handful of recipes in all that time. Our christmas cake is a rich dark fruit cake, a traditional cake we inherited from Britain. The fruit cake is a celebration cake used to make christening cakes as well as wedding cakes and is normally topped with marzipan and royal icing. Here is a recipe from Delia Smith - it's not the one I use but it's not dissimilar.

I made the cake at the end of November and took it home with me to Brisbane. My parents cut the cake a few days ago and it was given a tick of approval. My own slab has been wrapped and placed in the feeezer to prevent parental nibbling.



The recipe makes a bit too much batter to comfortably fit into a 9 inch tin so there's always enough left over to make a teeny tiny cake to tide me over.

So welcome to 2011, the start of a New Year. I brought the New Year in with friends down at the Manly Esplanade in Sydney watching the fireworks. It was a perfect night and a lovely way to see in the New Year. I hope you enjoyed your own New Year's Eve celebrations.

Meanwhile, spare a thought for my fellow Queenslanders who are battling massive floodwaters. I saw the flooding first hand on my drive home last week. It's truly heartbreaking,

Jillian