Christmas Cake

⏳ Time

2 hours 30 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

The Western European Christmas cake, made from rich dough and filled with sweet ingredients, nuts, and dried fruits, is very similar to our Easter kulich. They have more in common than it might seem: both products are a reference to the Greek artos, the sacred bread used for communion. Moreover, sources indicate that kulichs were once baked for Christmas just as frequently as for Easter. While this may seem unusual to us now, such a rich cake with the warm aromas of cinnamon and oranges will not be out of place on the Christmas table.

Ingredients

Prunes - 12.3 oz
Dried cranberries with sugar - 7.1 oz
Cherry - 7.1 oz
Cognac - 3.5 oz
Butter - 7.1 oz
Honey - 7.1 oz
Oranges - 3 pieces
Orange Syrup - 5.3 oz
Cinnamon - 0.2 oz
Grated Ginger Root - 0.2 oz
Ground Nutmeg - 0.1 oz
Cardamom - 0.3 oz
Cocoa Powder - 3.5 oz
Sugar - 3.5 oz
Chicken Egg - 4 pieces
Brown Sugar - 7.1 oz
Almond - 2.6 oz
Wheat Flour - 5.3 oz
Baking Powder - 0.3 oz
Activated Baking Soda - 0.3 oz
White Chocolate - 5.3 oz
Water - 3 fl oz

Step by Step guide

Step 1

Prepare all the ingredients.

Step 2

Combine the dried fruits, brandy, butter, jam, honey, the juice and zest of 2 oranges, spices, and cocoa in a saucepan.

Step 3

Simmer the spice mixture for 10 minutes. Allow it to cool completely.

Step 4

Beat the eggs with brown sugar, both types of flour, baking powder, and salt.

Step 5

Once the dough is kneaded, add the spice mixture from the saucepan and gently fold the dough again.

Step 6

Transfer the dough into baking molds. This can be several small molds or one very large one. Bake in the oven at 338°F for 40 minutes (the baking time for a large mold may increase by 25–30 minutes). Allow the baked cakes to cool in the molds on a rack for 5 minutes. Remove the cakes from the molds and let them cool completely.