Honey saffron Christmas cake

800 kcal or less alcohol almond almonds bake a light & fruity cake baking powder booze boozy brandy cake christmas christmas-kitchen fruit cake glacé cherries glacé cherry ground almond ground almonds hazelnut hazelnuts honey make ahead over an hour peel raisin raisins saffron sultana sultanas walnut walnuts winter xmas

N/A

Cuts into 12 slices

Source

Ingredients

225g butter , softened, plus extra for greasing

2 tbsp brandy

pinch saffron (about 1⁄4tsp strands)

225g golden caster sugar

4 eggs

225g plain flour

50g ground almond

1 tsp baking powder

300g raisin

300g sultana

100g natural-coloured glacé cherry , halved

85g mixed peel

50g whole blanched almond , roughly chopped

50g whole blanched hazelnut , roughly chopped

50g walnut pieces

3 tbsp brandy

2 tbsp honey

Method

Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Butter and line a round, deep 20cm cake tin with two layers of baking parchment (see Knowhow, below). Tie a few sheets of newspaper around the outside of the tin, level with the top of the baking parchment.

Heat the brandy in a small pan, then add the saffron and leave to infuse off the heat for a few mins. Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl, then beat together until creamy and smooth. Mix the fruit, nuts and brandy saffron mix into the batter and stir well.

Spoon into the prepared tin, smooth the top and make a slight dip in the middle. Bake for 1½ hrs, then cover loosely with foil to stop the top over-browning. Turn oven down to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1 and cook for 1 hr more until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin then, while it’s still warm, prod the cake all over with a skewer.

Mix the brandy and honey together and spoon over the cake. Wrap up well in foil and keep in an airtight container until Christmas, feeding with more honeyed brandy every so often.