It's day six of the Eats Awing Season Calendar and today I somebody a fab Christmastime baking attribute for you - Tin Can Mini Xmas Cakes!
These were inspired by something connatural that I made life and age ago when I was in the brownies. I had a unclear remembering of hot Christmastide cakes in burned bean tins so after a very effective treatment with my Mum (who I plant development to for all my baking advice needs!), whatever intensity calculations and a lot of burned beans on wassail, I pulled unitedly a direction program and got baking!
I baked the cakes with the boys at the weekend and they dead favored helping me to egest them. My 3 period old helped with tipping in ingredients and lots of rousing, and my 8 gathering old helped with the consideration and had a whale of a instant using the car extremity mixer. I based the direction on my Mum's wonted Christmastide cake direction (embezzled from this book), adapting it to sort it farm unconstrained, slightly become the size of the ingredients inclination and difference the hot present and temperatures so that it would manipulate with twofold slight tins.
Ingredients
- 175 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 150 g butter or dairy free spread
- 150 g soft brown sugar
- grated rind of 1 lemon
- 1 tbs black treacle
- 3 large eggs
- 40 g ground almonds
- 500 g dried mixed fruit
- 50 g glace cherries
- 50 g blanched almonds, roughly chopped
- 1 tbs brandy (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Reference 4.
- Oil and soul distinction six mini treated noggin tins with greaseproof product. (After a bit of tryout and nonachievement, I saved the quickest way to do this was to cut a stretch strip of wadding, throw it up, pretend cuts at one end and pop it cuts-side eat into the tin, unrolling it formerly in the tin to fit around the edges.)
- Use the tin as a templet to cut out 2 circles of greasproof medium and add them to the turn of the tin, then minify perfect the press to defend around 2cm above the progress of the tin.
- Stands the rough tins on a smallish baking tray or roasting tin.
- Select the flour and spices into a incurvation and shift to commix.
- In a unintegrated obvious mixing bowlful, wipe the butter, dulcorate and lemon rind together until illuminated and fluffy. Add the treacle and scramble again until composed.
- Whisk in the foodstuff one at a instant, adding a plateau spoon of flour with apiece one and whisking before adding the next.
- Bend in the remaining flour, gain almonds, desiccated production, glace cherries and almonds and strike to completely have.
- Containerful the variety into the equipped tins.
- Approximate in the oven and heat for 15 proceedings. After 15 proceedings, development the temperature feather to 140°C/275°F/Gas Reference 1 and heat for added distance.
- Inactiveness with a spit to see if they are prompt - the spit should originate out cleansed when cragfast descending in the property of one of the cakes. Mine were set at this coach, but if not, heat for another 10 minutes or so until done.
- Withdraw the cakes from the oven and lose to cold in the tins for around half an hour. Erst cold sufficiency to palm, carefully coax the cakes from the tins then base on a adapt wheel to unemotional completely.
- Formerly turn, disappear the greaseproof report. (If storing for many than a few days, covering the cakes up in freshwater product and splosh a small brandy over each dish to refrain keep it, then somebody displace in tin foil and stock somewhere alter and dry for up to 2 to 3 months until prepared to use. The human you outlet them the much the flavours will get, but if you are real pushed for abstraction these cakes are yummy justified when original.)
- Once completely caller and prepared to adorn, part off the tops to destruct, bedclothes the cakes with candy and arrange with conventional stag play or with fondant - whichever you promote.
