Fast and easy Christmas cake

Tis the season, or at least the season is very fast approaching. This weekend we put up our Christmas tree and it's starting to feel quite cheery and seasonal around here. So I reflected on what I should put here on the blog. Every year I imply that I will be doing loads of baking and posting and, all to frequentl, I get overwhelmed with just doing all the baking and then forget to actually blog. So this year, despite (maybe because of) the fact that I am under more pressure than every before, I have decided to start early and get some Christmas posts up this year!!

So I shall start with the Christmas cake, now before you run for fear of fruit cake, let me assure you that this is a lighter cake! It has lots of delicious flavour but it's not dense or overwhelmingly fruity. Even if you have disliked Christmas cake in the past, I implore you to give this a try. If you love Christmas cake, well this has it all, so do try this!

As a bit of a baker, there are certain..........erm..............expectations! I will acknowledge that a great many of these expectations are self-imposed! However once you start a tradition people get used to it and making Christmas cake for my bf's family is one of those traditions. Anything that makes this a little easier is a blessing and this year I think I have it twigged!! The secret = mince meat (the fruit) and with this recipe you can go from start to finish in one hour!!!

You see mince meat has been stewing for months and all that delicious fruit has been soaking up the delicious spice and juices that make it appear that you put hours of work prepping your fruit and maybe even feeding the cake for a while. So you take this wonderful mixture (preferably one without lard) and put it into a saucepan, add water, whiskey, and extra fruit of your choice, I added sultanas and cherries and then heat this gently for about 10 minutes.

Quick and easy Christmas Cake (makes 2 trays or 10" loaf tin)

800g Minced meat
100ml water
40ml whiskey
300g sultanas
300g chopped cherries
225g Butter
75g white sugar (there is a lot of sugar in the mince meat)
500g Plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp each of cinnamon, all spice and nutmeg
1 pinch salt
300ml Milk
3 whole eggs
1 tsp vanilla

(I know it's a lot of ingredients but it really is simple, I promise!)

1- Preheat oven to 180'C. Put your minced meat, water, whiskey, sultanas and cherries into a big, thick bottomed saucepan. Heat gently for 10 mins.

2- Once it's been heated through, remove from heat, add your butter and sugar and mix thoroughly.

3- In separate bowls, beat together the flour, baking powder/soda and spices and in the other bowl the eggs and milk.

4- Now alternate in the flour and milk mixture until everything in incorporated!

5- Pour into baking trays and bake for 20 minutes for a shallow baking tray or 45 minutes for a loaf tin.

This sight just says Christmas to me!!

To decorate:
I blitzed together almonds, hazelnuts and some icing sugar and then sprinkled on top before nnaking but this is naturally optional!

Gingerbread and reflections

Today I considered not posting. I had planned this post since last week but somehow in light of what's happened in Paris and Beirut somehow happy seasonal food recipes just don't seem as important anyway. However this morning I decided it would be better to post and talk a little about the many many wonderful times I have spent in Paris.

So, it being the middle of November, it is starting to feel seasonal but yet it's not really reasonable to start indulging yet. These gingerbread bites are the absolute business. They are vegan, wholegrain, fat-free, and (unless you cover them with icing sugar for aesthetic purposes) refined sugar free!! They taste really good too and they hit that cake craving nicely! I also used the lovely Sweetpea Pantry ginger giggles mix that includes barley and rye flour. But before you eat me for using pre-made mix on a baking blog, know that it's just an ingredient and my own recipe!

The last time we went to Paris was very funny! My boyfriend and I have a habit when we go away of getting a little apartment style hotel room or hostel place and walk around everywhere to learn the area and pretend for a week that we live there. Paris is such a lovely place to do this because you can establish your local boulangerie/patisserie for a week and even within that limited space of time I get the impression that the boulanger will get to know you, which adds to the experience massively! Another wonderful thing about the pretending to live there part is that you have oodles of time to sit around in parks observing people and really soaking in the culture. Some of my happiest moments have been in france and sitting in a park with my bf just taking it all in forms the basis of a good few of those.

Back to the recipe

Vegan, Wholegrain Barley and Rye Gingerbread Bites (makes 15 inch square cubes)

200g Ginger Giggles Mix
Egg- replacer (use your product directions for the equivalent of 1 egg)
150ml Apple sauce                                                                

1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp Agave Nectar






1- Preheat oven to 180'C/ 350'F/ Gas mark 4.

2- Mix everything together  (could it be simpler)

3- Line a bread tin and pour in the mixture

4- Bake for 15-20 mins or until golden brown on top

5- Let cool and slice into cubes to enjoy

So I'll finish off with one of my favourite memories of paris and the wonderful people who live there. On our last visit there myself and my partner were walking around trying to find a great place to eat. We had been walking for a couple of hours sight-seeing and the like and we were pretty hungry. You know the type of hungry that takes on a life of it's own?! Well our seperate hungers were leading and each had a different goal in mind. We searched and searched and looked at so many delicious restaurants but each time, either I wasn't satisfied or he wasn't. Well, this had been going on for about an hour and the hunger was bad when we finally found a place that met all the criteria, Halleluia! But..... the kitchen was closed, in fact all the kitchens were closed until dinner time! Devastated!! We alked away starving and depressed and headed to the only thing we could see that was still open - McDonalds. You can imagine how unexcited I was, except I was forgetting that this was France. My McDonalds meal was the freshest and most delicious Mc Donalds I had ever had, with real dijon mustard and a much needed coffee on the side! Not only that but there was some tables outside and a group singing for some reason I never gathered. Now I'll grant you, my hunger may have added to the flavour but one thing cannot be denied - Parisians can add class to anything!! Which is exactly what we have seen in the wake of this tragedy! Parisians out holding their heads up in the face of terrorism and calling on others not to allow the acts of a few extremist segregate the muslim community in France. Now this is not and never will be a political blog and I am aware that there are several aspects of this situation that are more complex. However I would like to focus on the good and on my happy memories of paris, while I pray for all those involved and affected this weekend!

Look after yourself and enjoy this little post, til next week, a bientot =)