52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 19 - Food and Drink

 

This week I share with you our family recipe for Christmas Cake, taken from a handwritten folder of recipes handed down to me by my Mum.  It is in Imperial measurements, so you will need to convert to metric.  

The Auntie Jean of the title was my Mum’s younger sister, Jean.  Auntie was a great cook and taught me the basics of cooking.  

Auntie Jean’s Christmas Cake

Ingredients

8 oz Plain Flour

3 oz Demerara Sugar

4 oz Margerine 

3 level tablespoons of warmed treacle or golden syrup

½ level teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

1 level teaspoon of cinnamon

1 level teaspoon of mixed spice

2 eggs

1 lb mixed fruit

3 tablespoons of cold tea

 

Method

Cream sugar and margarine

Beat in treacle or syrup

Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices together

Add alternately with the beaten eggs to the creamed mixture and beat well

Add the fruit and mix in the tea

Bake in a 7” wide tin surrounded by a layer of brown paper

Moderate oven 325F / 180°for 2½ hours

Leave to cool in the oven and then cool on a wire tray

Store wrapped in foil in an airtight tin

Twice before Christmas open foil and drip a tablespoon of brandy over the cake

Seal in the tin until Christmas.