Christmas Cake, Leaves and Landscaping

It’s been an exciting week. The landscaping was finished and looks lovely. What a transformation. This area of the garden was covered in old crazy paving. It had sunk and was uneven and covered in moss and weeds. Now, it’s sleek, sophisticated and easy maintenance. Here’s how it looked before.

Here’s how it looks now. Photos taken in the rain. The wet stone looks really good.

I’m thrilled to bits! Can’t wait for Spring to come with fresh planting and seasonal treats.

Meanwhile, there are still pleasures to be had from this season. The leaves have been colourful. The acers were lovely for about a week and now their leaves decorate the ground in profusion.

The wind and rain have brought down the fruit tree and beech leaves. They lie in a pleasing jumble.

The sky has been wonderfully blue some days and reflected in the refurbished pond.

A few odd flowers are scattered here and there and Clematis cirrhosa has dainty buds appearing.

November already. Time to be thinking of Christmas. I’ll be baking the cake in a week or so. If you’re thinking of doing the same and need a recipe, here’s mine.

Christmas Cake
I have listed the ingredients in the order that you use them to make it as simple as possible. The brandy or rum can be mixed or one or the other used.
Line a deep cake tin with a removable base with a double layer of greaseproof paper. Line the sides first, then cover the base and push it down inside the tin to hold the side lining in place. This helps to prevent the outside of the cake from over-cooking while it's baking. Grease it lightly with a little oil.

50g Pecan Nuts
1 Orange
1 Lemon
100g Glace Cherries
2 lumps Stem Ginger
50g Candied Peel

Grind the nuts or chop very finely.
Grate the orange and lemon peel.
Finely chop the glace cherries, stem ginger and candied peel.

Heat the oven to 150C/130C fan oven.

4 large Eggs
225g Muscovado sugar
240g Self-raising Flour
225g Sultanas
225g Raisins
230g Sunflower Oil
1 rounded teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1 rounded teaspoon ground Ginger
1 level teaspoon ground Cloves
half teaspoon Mixed Spice
2 tablespoons Brandy or Rum

Put all ingredients, except the brandy or rum, into a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
Add the spirits and mix again. Smells wonderful!
Put the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for one and three-quarter hours.
Test with a skewer to see if the centre is cooked. Should come out cleanly if it's ready.
Allow to cool a little then remove from the tin but leave the paper on.
When it's completely cold, unwrap and rewrap in fresh greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin.

Cream Sherry

After a couple of weeks, pull back the top wrapping, prick the cake with a fork and gently spoon sherry over the cake. Don't over-soak it but be sure to reach the outside of the cake which will be the driest part. 
Repeat in another two or three weeks.
The sherry makes the cake moist and rich and full of Christmas flavours.
I no longer ice my cake. Too many calories and a husband who hates marzipan. It does make the cake extra-special though so you may want to do it.
Brush the top of the cake with warmed jam. Apricot jam is traditional, but any smooth jam will do. Roll out marzipan to fit the top of the cake and place it on the jammy surface.
Cover with royal icing. If you're not good at smoothing the icing, try roughing it up with a fork to resemble snowdrifts. Or use a ready-made icing.
Some festive decorations on top and a ribbon or paper band around the cake complete the picture.

My lovely daughter will be helping me to make this. She enjoys chopping the various ingredients while I organise the lining of the cake tin and find everything else. We listen to Christmas music while we do it.

I hope you enjoy making your own Christmas cake. Many of us have a favourite recipe, but if you need one, you could try mine. Let me know how it turns out if you do. I love to hear from you.

Bye for now. With you again next week.