THE Best Christmas Cake of All Time

I have very fond memories of devouring this very special, delicous cake every Christmas, made  by my lovely Mama ♥

It is moist, vegetarian, light & fluffy, easy and so jolly delicious, plus it lasts and stays soft for weeks (if it lasts that long!). None of that dry, hard fruit cake for us!

So we termed it THE best Christmas Cake of All Time, after trying a few others through the years, and the name stuck.

Us kids kept the recipe and still make it every Christmas. It doesn't last long, so be prepared to make a few of them!

I attempt to make one that gets put aside; I'm not often successful, but one year, I did manage to get one put aside and sprinkle brandy over it every few days and oh wow, it was pretty amazing!

We usually make our own dried fruit mix, including currants, cherries, dried ginger, raisins/sultanas and dried peel. Don't skimp on the cherries haha

THE Best Christmas Cake of All Time Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 tin sweetened condensed milk
• 1 ½ cups water
• 275 grams butter
• 3¾ cups dried fruit – commercial mix or blend your own. (I usually do 1 cup of currants, 1 cup of cherries, 1 ¼ cup raisins/sultanas, ¼ cup peel, ¼ cup ginger.
• 2½ cups flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
   

Method:

1. In a pot. heat together Highlander Milk, water, butter and fruit.
2. Boil for 3 minutes, then cool for about 10 minutes.
3. Sift flour, soda and salt.
4. Mix dry ingredients & nuts if using them into fruit and stir all together thoroughly.
5. Pour into a paper lined 22 cm round cake tin (or similar sized square one)
6. Bake at 150°C fan bake for 1½ hours.
7. Cool then wrap in paper and store in a sealed container until ready to eat.

My two girls love it so much that they have been known to cut into it while still warm and aim for the middle, cheeky kids!  Enjoy ♥