Seasonal
White Christmas Cake
Serves 8 - 10
Prep Time
2 hours
Cooking TIme
1.5 hours
Ingredients
- 150g (5oz) butter Kerrygold® Irish Creamery Butter 454g
- 200g (7oz) flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon Irish whiskey
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 75g (3oz) ground almonds
- 6 egg whites
- 175g (6oz) castor sugar
- 75g (3oz) sour cherries
- 110g (4oz) finely-chopped home-made candied peel, (homemade or good quality candied peel makes all the difference here)
- 18cm (1 x 7 inches) round tin with a 7.5cm (3 inches) sides
- For the White Frosting:
- 1 egg white
- 225g (8oz) granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons water
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.
- Line the tin with greaseproof paper.
- Cream the butter until very soft, sieve in the flour, salt and baking powder, then add the lemon juice, whiskey and ground almonds.
- Whisk the egg whites until quite stiff; add the castor sugar gradually and whisk again until stiff and smooth. Stir some of the egg white into the butter mixture and then carefully fold in the rest.
- Lastly, add the chopped peel and the halved cherries. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 1/2 hours approx. Allow to cool, cover and ice the next day.
- Dissolve the sugar carefully in water and boil for 1 1/2 minutes approx. until the syrup reaches the ‘thread stage’, 106-113°C/223-236°F. It will look thick and syrupy; when a metal spoon is dipped in, the last drops of syrup will form a thin thread.
- Pour this boiling syrup over the stiffly-beaten egg white, whisking all the time. Put the bowl in a saucepan over simmering water.
- Continue to whisk over the water until white and very thick. (This can take up to 10 minutes).
- Spread quickly over the cake with a palette knife. It sets very quickly at this stage, so speed is essential.
- Decorate with Christmas decorations or crystallised violets or rose petals and angelica.
