WHEN IT COMES TO BOILED FRUIT CAKES FOR CHRISTMAS, GEMLIFE PALMWOODS’ HOMEOWNER DENISE RYDER BELIEVES HER RECIPE IS SOMETHING PRETTY SPECIAL.
“It’s lovely and moist, rich and easy to make, and so different from the normal Christmas cake,” said Denise, who was gifted the recipe by a young mother like herself many years ago.
“Janet’s fruit cake, as we call it, has so many wonderful ingredients such as coffee essence, crushed pineapple, brown sugar, dark plum jam, cocoa, rum and marsala. You cook the cake a few weeks before Christmas and it just gets richer and moister. I like putting almonds on top and a bit of holly.”
Denise became so proficient at baking the cake that she won the Heaviest Fruit Cake competition at her children’s primary school fete when they were young.
Married for 54 years, Denise and Frank have two sons, three grandsons and a two-year-old great granddaughter and Christmas is an important time for them all.
“Our eldest grandson, Mitchell, turns 27 on Christmas Day. He was a Christmas present none of us can ever forget and I remember sleeping on benches waiting for him to arrive. It was magical,” said Denise.
Janet’s Christmas Cake
Serves 10-12
This recipe was passed on to Denise many years ago by a friend, Janet, when both were young mothers.
125g butter
1kg mixed dried fruit
1 packet glace cherries
1 packet mixed peel
1 cup chopped pecans
4 tbsp plum jam
2 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 beaten eggs
Pinch salt
1 tbsp coffee essence, or chicory or instant coffee will suffice
1 tbsp cocoa
2 ½ cups self-raising flour
½ cup marsala
¼ cup rum
Whole raw almonds, to decorate
Plum jam, to coat
- Soak fruit overnight with water, marsala and rum.
- Place fruit mix in saucepan along with butter, jam, brown sugar, bicarb soda and spices and bring to boil. Remove and cool.
- Add beaten eggs and fold in sifted flour and salt. Add coffee essence, cocoa and nuts. Spoon into baking tin and decorate with raw almonds. Cook approx. 1 ½ hours in lined tin at 170 degrees. While warm, brush more melted plum jam over the top.
White Christmas
Makes 24
A recipe from Denise’s childhood that was always a family favourite.
250g copha
3 cups Rice Bubbles
1 cup coconut
¾ cup icing sugar
1 cup roasted slivered almonds
1 cup powdered milk
1 packet each of red glace cherries and green glace cherries, chopped in half
1 tbsp lemon juice
- Line a baking tray with paper.
- Melt copha, add it to all other ingredients and mix. Press firmly onto the tray and refrigerate.
- Cut into squares and keep refrigerated.
Lemon Tiramisu
Serves 8-10
A refreshing change to the traditional coffee and chocolate tiramisu.
300ml double thick cream
4 tbsp icing sugar
1 large lemon
Sponge fingers, Savoiardi biscuits available in grocery stores
2 tubs mascarpone cheese
Lemon curd, store bought
Fresh cream for whipping
Lemon syrup
½ cup Limoncello lemon liqueur
125ml water
3 tbsp sugar
Juice of 2 large lemons
- Put syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Allow it to cool.
- Dip sponge fingers into the syrup and lay on the bottom of serving dish.
- Whisk together the mascarpone, cream, icing sugar and the zest of one large lemon.
- Top the biscuits with the lemon cream mixture. Dip more sponge fingers in the syrup and lay on top of lemon mixture.
- Spoon lemon curd on the top of the biscuits and smooth out the top with a spatula. Chill in fridge and when cold, decorate with whipped cream.
NB: If desired, just one layer of sponge fingers will suffice.