Melfords Wedding or Christmas Cake 14 "square

melford, Oct 22, 5:02am
2 lb Sultanas 2lb Currants 1/4lb Cherries 1/4 lb Blanched Almonds 1/4 lb Mixed Peel
Soak all this fruit overnight in 1/2 cup sherry and 1/2 cup of rum. Use a NEW plastic bucket. Next day cream 1 lb butter 1lb sugar then add eggs one at a time.Add 1/2 cup Golden Syrup and mix well. Add 1 and a half pound plain flour and and flour to fruit and STAND OVERNIGHT. Next day add 1/2 tsp Baking Soda dissoloved in a little hot water and mix well. Now add 2tsp Allspice, 2tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg. Line a tin with butter papers and brown paper. Bake 120 6 hours. This cake is dark and absolutely beautiful and will keep for years - it was my Weedding Cake. Since then I have made it every Christmas and for all special occasions. It stays perfectly flat on top so it is perfect to ice. It is so worth the effort of having to soak for two nights. Please note, I leave out the almonds as I never liked them in it. Also I use clean impeccably washed hands and mix everything in the bucket (except creaming the sugar and butter) as the volume of mixture is too much to use a cake mixture. Enjoy!

frances1266, Oct 22, 5:19am
Have you tried this gluten free Melford!

indy95, Oct 22, 5:25am
This sounds like a really good recipe, melford. How many eggs, please !

winnie231, Oct 22, 5:27am
How many eggs melford! Seems to be missing in your recipe .

melford, Oct 22, 7:55am
Oh sorry, 8 eggs large. No I only make this now for my son who does not have coeliac and my daughter who has coeliac doesn't like fruit cakes.

clair4, Oct 23, 2:51am
Thanks Melford.Sounds absolutely delicious.I have printed the recipe and will give it a go next week.

clair4, Oct 23, 2:56am
I do not have such a large baking dish.I may have to make it in a couple of tins.Perhaps a 7 inch and a 10 inch.

melford, Oct 23, 10:02am
Yes they would be okay, make sure the tins are deep and high sided.

griffo4, Oct 30, 8:16am
melford wrote:
Add 1 and a half pound plain flour and and flour to fruit and STAND OVERNIGHT
Melford l have made your mix up to this stage but l was a bit unsure so l made up the butter/sugar etc part then added the flour and then added all that to the fruit is that how it is supposed to go as l had a bit of trouble with the quoted part of the recipe and l have it sitting on the bench is that OK!

melford, Oct 30, 9:07am
sorry griff I should have proof read my post. Cake is made in threestages. Soak fruit overnight in sherry and rum. Next morning cream butter and sugar and add eggs and then add the flour then stand overnight again. The following day add the baking soda (mixed with the water in a cup) and all the other ingredients. I am sure you will enjoy it.

melford, Oct 30, 9:19am
clair4 - yes the tins you described will be fine as long as they are deep sided. When I used this recipe for my Wedding Cake years ago I used the full recipe for the bottom tier and those sizes for the next two tiers. You just need to adjust the times for the smaller cakes insert a skewer to see when each one is cooked.

griffo4, Oct 30, 8:28pm
Sorry for sounding dumb Melford

but l put the fruit in sherry and rum on day one

thenwhen l mixed up butter sugar eggs and flour on day two l added the fruit as well is that correct!

and then today l just added the baking soda and spices and it is now in the oven

Sorry for so many questions but l really want to get this right as l want to make another one when this has finished
Thanks

melford, Oct 30, 9:50pm
yes thats right griff04 hope you enjoy it.

griffo4, Oct 31, 3:25am
Thank you Melford l have taken it out of the oven and it smells so nice so can't wait to try that at Christmas time
l used a divider tin so l got 4 x 6" square cakes and it took 5hrs 30mins in my oven and they are cooling now and l will wrap them up tomorrow

melford, Oct 31, 5:32am
Don't forget to put them all in the freezer. I never used to do this but I found that it was so moist and the flavour improved

griffo4, Oct 31, 5:40am
Will do that Melford thanks for answering all my questions