Baking a Christmas cake over Labour Weekend? Try these recipes from Nadia Lim and family

Nadia Lim and her mother-in-law Virgina Bagrie share their Christmas cake recipes. Photo / Holly Wallace

• Labour Weekend is traditionally for baking Christmas cakes, with recipes benefiting from maturation.
• Nadia Lim offers a lighter, tropical fruit cake that can be made closer to Christmas.
• Her mother-in-law Virginia Bagrie’s traditional recipe is for experienced bakers, involving a long maturation.

‘Tis the season for lining cake tins and soaking sultanas.

Lovers of a homemade traditional Christmas cake know that Labour Weekend is for baking.

According to The Edmonds Cookery Book website – and mothers-in-law around the country – rich fruit cakes taste best after a couple of months’ maturation.

Nigella Lawson – via the British food writer and television cook’s Ask Nigella forum – suggests baking a full 12 weeks out from the big day.

Enter New Zealand’s Nadia Lim with a boozy dried tropical fruit number that she reassuringly insists can be made the week of Christmas (assuming you are not passed out on the couch under a pile of compostable wrapping paper and the effects of a quiet drink with the neighbours).

Lim, whose contempory cake features in her new book Nadia’s Farm Kitchen, says “it’s lighter than a traditional cake ... If I made it now, would I be able to serve it on Christmas? I don’t think I’ve ever tested it out that long, because it doesn’t last that long! Mine’s more for if you’re not a super-organised person ...”

Also, she confessed recently, the tastiest traditional cake in her house is always the one made by her mother-in-law Virginia Bagrie.

Regular readers might remember a poll asking which recipe you’d like us to print – classic or contemporary? Long-keeper or fast-eater?

In the spirit of Christmas, with the gracious assistance of Lim and Bagrie (who battled the South Island’s wild weather-induced power cuts and internet disruptions to send us a copy of the recipe she has been baking for more than 40 years) we duly present ... both!

A caveat: We have not personally attempted to make either cake and (to our untrained eye) we suspect Bagrie’s, which has evolved from a recipe she found in a Women’s Division of Federated Farmers cookbook, is probably best attempted by the more experienced baker. Good luck out there!

Mid-winter boozy fruitcake from Nadia’s Farm Kitchen by Nadia Lim ($55)

Nadia Lim's mid-winter boozy fruitcake, from her new book Nadia's Farm Kitchen, is described as "lighter than a traditional Christmas cake".

Nadia says: “This cake is just a little dangerous – the kind of thing you find yourself slicing ‘just a little sliver more’ every time you walk into the pantry.

“Lighter than a traditional Christmas cake, it’s rich, moist, tender, packed with dried fruit and nuts, and gently spiced. The sweetness comes mostly from the fruit, allowing their natural flavours to come through.

“I like to skip the overly traditional mix and go for a more tropical vibe – dried mango, papaya and cherries, along with the classics: apricots, prunes and sultanas.

“The fruit is soaked in brandy or your booze of choice for a day to deepen the flavour, and the finished cake can be ‘fed’ every week or so with a little more alcohol to keep it moist and improve its flavour even more.”

Makes 1 large cake

Prep time: 30 minutes (+ soaking time for the fruit)

Cook time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients

700g mixed dried fruit (e.g. chopped dried mango, papaya, apricots, figs, cherries, cranberries, currants, sultanas or raisins)

150g chopped prunes (pits removed)

200ml brandy, rum, or fortified wine (eg Marsala, sherry or Madeira), or orange juice for a non-alcoholic version

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

200g butter, softened

150g brown sugar (dark brown, muscovado or demerara)

2 Tbsp golden syrup

4 large free-range eggs

150g flour (plain, wholemeal, spelt, or gluten-free)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

200g ground almonds

1 Tbsp black treacle or molasses (optional)

100g roughly chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans or almonds or a mix)

Extra 1/2 cup alcohol to ‘feed’ the cake (optional)

1. In a large bowl, combine all the dried fruit and citrus zests. Pour over the alcohol (or juice), stir well, cover and leave to soak overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 150C. Grease and line a 20cm round or square cake tin with baking paper.
3. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add golden syrup, then the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Don’t worry if it looks slightly curdled.
4. Sift in the flour, baking powder, spices and a pinch of salt. Add the ground almonds, soaked fruit (including any remaining soaking liquid), black treacle or molasses (if using) and chopped nuts. Gently fold everything together until just combined.
5. Spoon batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 1.5 hours, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. If the top is browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil after the first hour.
6. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, pour over another 1/2 cup of your chosen alcohol to soak in. Let cool completely in the tin. Then wrap in baking paper and foil, and store in a tin or an airtight container. Continue feeding with extra alcohol every few days (if the cake lasts that long).

Virginia Bagrie’s Xmas cake – secret recipe made with love (and a lot of alcohol!)

Virginia Bagrie bakes six large traditional Christmas cakes annually. Her daughter-in-law, Nadia Lim, calls them the "Rolls Royce" of Christmas cakes.

Virginia says: “It’s a good idea to use organic white flour but you can use gluten-free flour, or even a non-refined flour.

“It needs to be as fresh as possible. Eggs must be at room temperature, and the butter must be soft. The fruit needs to soak overnight. If the soaking mixture is too expensive for your budget just go with two cups of sherry. (I use “medium” as it’s not too sweet).

“The 2 Tbsp of golden syrup in the cake can be substituted with 3 Tbsp of maple syrup, but the latter must be added to the fruit soaking mixture.

“I put thick brown paper around the outside of the cake tin (paper grocery bags are ideal, and can be tied in place with string) and the inside of the tin needs to be greased with butter and lined with four layers of baking paper (bottom and sides) before sprinkling with a little flour.”

Makes 1 large cake (25cm’ish tin) or 2 small cakes (18cm’ish tins)

Prep and cook time: Fruit soaked overnight; cake spends 4 hours in the oven

1/2 cup cognac

1/2 cup sherry

1/2 cup Grand Marnier

1/2 cup Cointreau

1/2 cup brandy

700g currants

1kg sultanas

150g mixed peel

50g crystallised ginger

150g glace cherries

300g chopped nuts (any kind except peanuts)

500g butter

500g sugar

10 eggs (room temperature)

1 tsp lemon essence

1 tsp almond essence

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp orange essence

700g flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp golden syrup (or 3 Tbsp maple syrup)

1/2 cup orange juice (or cognac)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup extra sherry

The night before baking:

Stir together the alcohol measures and add all the dried fruit, peel, cherries, ginger, nuts and (if using instead of golden syrup) the maple syrup in a large bowl. Leave the mixture to soak overnight.

On the day of baking:

1. Preheat the oven to 150C (cakes will take four hours total to bake).
2. Use a large cake mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the essences and eggs one by one, beating well and, lastly (if using) the golden syrup. If the mixture looks like it is starting to curdle add a little flour between each egg.
3. Sieve together the flour, cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg into a separate bowl.
4. Add alternate spoonfuls of the flour/spice mixture and the creamed butter/egg mixture to the soaked fruit mixture, stirring really well. Lastly, mix the orange juice (or cognac) and baking soda together, add to the cake mixture and stir really well.
5. Put the cake mixture into the lined, buttered and floured tins, making sure you fill the corners. Once all the mixture is in, bounce the tins on the bench until the mixture is even on the top (you may need to use a spatula to smooth it out).
6. Place tins in the middle of the oven. Bake for one hour at 150C, then two hours at 125C and, finally, one hour at 110C.
7. Check the cakes with a long needle and if it comes out clear, the cakes are ready.
8. Pour sherry over them immediately and then leave them in the tins overnight (or no longer than 24 hours) to “set”.
9. They should be left at least four-six weeks (I wrap them in greaseproof paper and then tin foil) before they are iced.

To ice:

1/2 cup of smooth apricot jam or sugar syrup (to make sugar syrup, heat 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar together until the sugar dissolves)

Packet of almond icing (I cheat and use store-bought, but you can make your own)

200g butter (softened)

500g icing sugar (sifted)

3 Tbsp brandy

2 tsp vanilla essence

1. Turn the cake upside down so you have a smooth surface for icing.
2. Brush surface and sides liberally with apricot jam or sugar syrup.
3. Sprinkle a little icing sugar on the bench and roll the almond icing out thinly (soften it by placing it in a bowl in a sink of hot water or microwaving it for a few seconds). Cut, and place around the cake, using your hands or rolling pin to smooth the edges together.
4. Beat together the butter and icing sugar. Add brandy and vanilla and beat again, add more icing sugar if too soft or extra brandy if too stiff. Place a generous amount all over the cake and smooth out using a hot knife.

Kim Knight joined the New Zealand Herald in 2016 and is a senior journalist on its lifestyle desk. This weekend, she’ll be baking a Tui Flower recipe from The Twelve Cakes of Christmas by Helen Leach, Mary Browne and Raelene Inglis.