Jamie Oliver’s “My Christmas Cake” from December’s P-D.S.G.

Jamie Oliver’s, My Christmas Cake

Jamie Oliver’s, My Christmas Cake, packed with dried fruit, cocoa, stout and spice. Three hours thirty minutes, plus cooling and decorating.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150 Centigrade, 350 Fahrenheit or Gas Mark 2
2. Grease a 20cm square cake tin with butter and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper, lining the sides high
3. Tear the stones out of the dates and prunes then place all the dried fruit in a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped
4. Decant the mixture into a large bowl, causley grating the apple
5. Finally grate in the clementine zest and squeeze in the juice
6. Pour in the stout, mix well and leave aside to soak for a few minutes
7. Meanwhile blitz the butter and sugar together in the processor until pale smooth and fluffy
8. With the processor still running, one by one, crack in the eggs and then pour in the milk in a steady stream, blitzing until smooth
9. Scrape this mixture into the bowl of fruit and fold together with a spatula
10. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cocoa and spices, then fold together again
11. Transfer to your prepared tin and bake for around two hours, or until cooked through and an inserted skewer comes out clean
12. If it needs a little longer, simply cover the top with greaseproof paper to prevent it from catching
13. Leave to cool for thirty minutes in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
14. Then decorate in whatever way you like