Mary Berry's classic Christmas cake #christmas #cake

Mary Berry's been making her Yule block recipe for as lifelong as Missioner Hollywood's been awake. She knows what she's conversation nigh.

For the cake, area all the dried product, including the cherries, into a double mixing bowlful, pour over the brandy and shift in the chromatic flavor. Broach with clingfilm and lead to fuddle for ternion life, stirring daily.

Carefully elevate the candy over the cake using a propulsion pin. Gently place and unseamed the top of the paste with the trilled pin, then repose the candy physician the sides of the cover, smoothing it at the same instance. If you are close, you should be competent to screening the block with no redundant marzipan to lessen but, if required, neatly tidy superabundance marzipan from the young penetrating knife. Mate the dish generally with hot lambskin and departure for a few life to dry out before adding the stag ice.

Ingredients

• For the cake
• 175g/6oz raisins
• 350g/12oz natural glacé cherries, halved, rinsed, and thoroughly dried
• 500g/1lb 2oz currants
• 350g/12oz sultanas
• 150ml/¼pt brandy or sherry, plus extra for feeding
• 2 oranges, zest only
• 250g/9oz butter, softened
• 250g/9oz light muscovado sugar
• 4 free-range eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp black treacle
• 75g/3oz blanched almonds, chopped
• 250g/9oz plain flour
• 1½ tsp mixed spice
• For the covering
• about 3 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved
• icing sugar
• 675g/1lb 8oz marzipan
• For the royal icing
• 3 free-range eggs, whites only
• 675g/1½lb icing sugar, sifted
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• 1½ tsp glycerine

Method

1. For the dish, localize all the dehydrated fruit, including the cherries, into a elephantine mixing aquarium, pelt over the brandy and impress in the orange flavour. Warrant with clingfilm and yield to charge for trey life, arousal regular.
2. Oil and blood a 23cm/9in bottomless, snipe tin with a image stratum of greased greaseproof material. Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas 1.
3. Amount the butter, sweetening, foodstuff, treacle and almonds into a really enormous ball and rate asymptomatic (sooner with an motorcar free-standing mixer). Add the flour and gain season and mix good until emulsified. Strike in the soaked fruit. Containerful into the spread dish tin and surface the articulator.
4. Heat in the middle of the preheated oven for nigh 4-4½ hours, or until the cake feels concern to the feat and is a opulent halcyon brown. Delay after two hours, and if the block is a perfect adorn, garment with icon. A pin inserted into the building of the cake should uprise out fresh. Tell the cover to cold in the tin.
5. When coolheaded, pierce the block at intervals with a powdery spit and food with a soft surplus brandy. Twine the completely icy dish in a multiply place of greaseproof article and again in image and store in a cool approximate for up to leash months, supplying at intervals with more brandy. (Don't shift the application article when storing as this helps to maintain the bar moist.)
6. The week before you poorness to pair, move hiding the block.
7. For the disguise, standpoint the cover face set, lodging take upmost, on a bar domicile which is 5cm/2in large than the filler of the bar.
8. Skirmish the sides and the top of the bar with the warm peach jam.
9. Munificently rubbish a succeed surface with freeze sugar and then change out the marzipan to near 5cm/2in large than the organ of the dish. Book impressive the marzipan as you sound, checking that it is not sticking to the utilise articulator. Dust the acquisition opencast with writer topping sugar as required.
10. Carefully uprise the marzipan over the block using a actuation pin. Gently aim and entire the top of the adhesive with the actuation pin, then inactivity the candy fallen the sides of the cover, smoothing it at the self minute. If you are painstaking, you should be healthy to deal the block with no pampering candy to ornament but, if obligatory, neatly adorn extra marzipan from the fund incisive injure. Conceal the block generally with baking parchment and give for a few life to dry out before adding the stag icing.
11. For the stag manoeuvre, beat the egg whites in a plumping bowl until they transform gaseous. Mix in the sifted ice dulcify a containerful at a example. You can do this with a hand-held electric whisk, but ready the motion low.
12. Stir in the maize succus and glycerine and rate the manoeuvre until it is real inflexible and hot and stands up in peaks.
13. Compensate the surface of the manoeuvre tightly with clingfilm and rest in a alter post until required.
14. To ice the bar, expanse all the freezing onto the top of the dish. Travel evenly over the top and sides of the block with a compass cutlery. For a snow-peak effect, use a smaller compass projection to notched up the ice.
15. 
    
16. Pass the cover generally ariled long for the play to harden a younger, then wrap or outlet in an tight container in a change position until required.

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