CHRISTMAS CAKE

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Let THE STAR help you celebrate with this awesome Christmas cake recipe. Get your measuring cups and baking tins ready, and be prepared to whip up a storm.

Ingredients

1/2 pound margarine (room temperature)

1/2 pound dark sugar

4 medium eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla/almond flavouring

1 pound all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons mixed spice/nutmeg

1 tablespoon browning

3 cups fruit wine

1 cup rum

3 cups soaked mixed fruits

1/2 cup cherries

Method

1. Soak the red wine, raisins, mixed peel and diced prunes for as long as possible. Overnight, or at least three hours, is fine.

2. Sift the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.

3. Cream butter and eggs together until smooth in texture.

4. Preheat oven at 250degF

5. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.

6. Combine well by using a wooden spoon or cake mixer. Be sure it is smooth in texture.

7. Use three eight-inch baking pans. Cut to size two grease-proof paper. Use the butter and lightly base the inside of the baking pans. Lay together the two grease papers on the inside of the baking pans.

8. Pour the cake batter halfway in the baking pans.

9. For a small baking pan, seven to eight inches, the baking time is three hours and 30 minutes.

For a large baking pan, nine to 10 inches, the baking time is four hours and 30 minutes.

10. Allow the cake to cool.

11. Spray cake with two to four capfuls of Jamaican white rum, Brandy, Appleton Jamaica Rum or Bacardi Rum, or any other kind of rum you like.

Additional tips

* Be sure the fruits are diced or blended before soaking.

* Sift the flour and baking powder in order to prevent lumps.

* Sift dry ingredients before starting on the egg mixture. The less time the eggs sit waiting to be used, the less raw your cake will smell.

* Be sure to break the eggs, one at a time, into a separate container, before it is added to the batter. (This is to ensure if an egg is spoilt, it would not be added to the batter, as well as egg shell can be removed.)

* Use browning to add the rich, dark-brown signature colour.

* Lift and drop the baking pan on a hard surface, like a table, to release the air bubbles.

* Preheat oven eight minutes before starting to bake cake.

* Do not open the oven until five to eight minutes before completion.

* The longer the cake sits is the richer it is! Let it sit for a couple of days and each day, spray the cake(s) with one or two capfuls of rum.

* Spray or brush cakes with rum instead of sprinkling. Spraying or brushing allows for better distribution of the rum.