members recipes

This delicious luxury Advent cake is a real Christmastime treat containing dried fig and covered with marzipan. Preparation time: 45mins Cooking time: over 3hours Serves: 8

Ingredients
225g plain flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
200g butter
200g dark brown sugar
2 tbsp black treacle
1 tbsp orange marmalade
¼ tsp vanilla essence
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
800g roughly chopped dried fig
100g chopped mixed peel
150g glace cherries, halved
100g blanched almonds, chopped
250ml brandy

To decorate
200g marzipan
1-2 tbsp orange marmalade, warmed

Method
1.Soak the roughly chopped dried fig, chopped mixed peel and 150g glace cherries in 250ml brandy overnight. Heat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas2. Grease an 18cm/7inch square cake tin and line the bottom and sides with baking parchment.
2.Sieve the flour, salt, mixed spice and cinnamon into a bowl.
3.Cream the butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl and then mix in the treacle, marmalade and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.
4.Mix the eggs a little at a time into the mixture adding a tablespoon of flour mixture with the last amount.
5.Fold in the remaining flour mixture until well mixed and then mix in the dried fig, mixed peel, glace cherries and the chopped almonds.
6.Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and make a slight hollow in the centre.
7.Bake in the oven for 3 hours and then test with a skewer. If not ready bake for up to another hour testing every 20 minutes until the skewer comes out clean.
8.Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes.
9.Turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.
10.To decorate the cake, place the cake on a foil board or cake plate.
11.Dust your hands and the work surface with a little icing sugar and knead the marzipan until soft.
12.Roll out half the marzipan to fit the top of the cake and roll out the rest in strips to fit around the sides of the cake.
13.Brush the cake all over with the warmed orange marmalade and then place the marzipan on top and around the cake.
14.Cover the cake with a clean tea towel and then leave in a cool place for at least one day.