Christmas Cake

I am making a cake as a hostess gift this Christmas. My family and I prefer my fruit loaf at this time of year, but this cake can be made a week ahead of Christmas and stored in tin foil until its time to decorate it. I use coffee instead of brandy so the children can enjoy it too.

125g butter
500g fruit cake mix
125g dates chopped
1 cup brown sugar
1t bicarbonate of soda
200ml water
2t ground cinnamon
1t mixed spice
1/2 cup glace cherries chopped
1/2 cup pecan nuts chopped
50ml filtre coffee
2 cups flour
pinch of salt
1t baking powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten.

Melt the butter. Add the fruit mix, dates, sugar and spices. Mix the bicarb in the water and add to the ingredients. Mix well, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave overnight.
Preheat the oven to 150C. Line a 20cm springform cake tin with 2 layers of grease proof paper.Brush the sides and base with oil. Cover the outside of the tin with tin foil. Place a dish with water on the bottom shelf of the oven.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the batter, together with the cherries, nuts, coffee and eggs. Pour into the greased cake tin.
Bake at 150C on the middle shelf for 2 1/2 hours. Insert a skewer to test if the cake is cooked through.

Allow to cool in the tin. Then wrap in tin foil and store in an airtight container until ready to decorate.

Using a pastry brush, paint some melted apricot jam over the top of the cake. Decorate with nuts and cherries and glaze with melted apricot jam. Place a ribbon around the side of the cake and secure with two pins - top and bottom.

Tip cut out a piece of brown paper to fit the base of the cake. Place on top of the cake if it starts to get too dark in colour.