Well, brace yourselves, there are 90 days till christmas. Yeah you read that right. 90 days. So its time to get this cake rolling and out of the way!
First things first, we need to prepare and soak the fruit at least a day in advance. We really want the fruit to soak up the alcohol to help the cake keep well for the next 90 days or so. So for this we need:
200g of glacé cherries (I used French style because they are cheaper here and I prefer the way they taste)
200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)
1kg of currants and sultans mixed
(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)
175ml of dark rum
25ml of vanilla extract or essence
So messy job first. Take your cherries and snip them in half. Its a messy sticky job but it serves two purposes, the cherries go further and you can be quite sure that there are no stones that have been missed during processing left in the fruit.
I just snip them right into a large mixing bowl before adding the dried fruit and peel. Give it a wee mix then add the rum and vanilla. Mix again, cover the bowl with cling film and pop in the fridge over night.
It doesn't look like much, but believe me it smells amazing.
And don't worry if this is all too early for you , I'll be posting the recipe as a whole too!
Take care, Minnie xoxo
