Christmas Cake

I love Christmas my whole life, for me the best festival in the world would be Christmas. Fun filled, joyous and full of love is how I would describe this festival. Even though I don't celebrate Christmas but the month December always bring lots of excitement and joy for me, be it the movies aired on television, the cakes and cookies, decorations and gifts.

This year I have planned to make a Christmas cake for celebration at home so my mixed dried fruits  have been soaking in brandy for the past 3 days, I know usually minimum 6 weeks is needed to get the best out of soaking this dried fruits. But since this is the first time I'm making this cake so I don't have that much of patience to wait for 6 weeks.

Okay now let's check how I made this cake;

Ingredients:

500g of dried fruit (assorted)

2 cups of plain flour

1 cup of fresh orange juice

1 cup of soft brown sugar

3 tbsp of treacle/ honey

1 tbsp of orange zest

1 tsp of nutmeg powder

1 tsp of cinnamon powder

1 tsp of mixed spice powder

1 tsp of baking soda

1/2 cup of brandy

150 g of butter

A pinch of salt

2 eggs

Boil dried fruits, butter, brown sugar, orange juice, treacle, salt on a low flame until it bubbles, 

then add baking soda at this moment more smaller bubbles will be formed, 

turn off the flame and let it completely cool

In another bowl, sift plain flour, nutmeg powder, mixed spice powder, cinnamon powder and keep aside.

Once the fruit mixture completely cool, add eggs and mix, finally add the dry ingredients to this mixture and fold in  orange zest well, no need to whisk or beat for very long. 

Grease a baking tray and pour in the cake mixture and bake at 150 degrees for 30-45 minutes depending on your own oven. Once baked let the cake completely cool, leave in refrigerator for at least 2 days before cutting and serving the cake.

But I couldn't wait for another 3 days to post this picture so had to cut a small piece out to show to you. For the best taste and moist you can apply brandy on the top layer of the cake for 3 days.

Now our Christmas Cake is ready to be served. Do try and let me know it was!

Seasoned Fried Squid/ Calamari Rings...

Ingredients:

250 g of squid (cleaned and cut into rings)
1/4 cup of plain flour
2 tbsp of corn starch
1 tsp of 5 spice powder
1 large egg beaten
1 tsp of salt
Oil to fry

Pre-soak squid in beaten egg for at least 30 minutes with a pinch of salt. 

In a bowl mix plain flour, corn starch, salt and 5 spice powder and keep aside.

When ready to fry, roll the squid in the flour mix and dust off the excess and fry in deep and hot oil. Do not leave it to fry too long as squid will be rubbery if cooked too long. Remove from oil as the flour coating the squid turns golden and drain out on a paper towel.

Fried Squid is best eaten while its hot so fry the squid only when you are ready to eat it right away.

Now our Seasoned Fried Squid is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how it turned out!