Light Christmas Cake

To begin this cake you need to do quite a bit of chopping.

Start with the walnuts, which should be fairly finely chopped. Then the pineapple, apricots and cherries need to be chopped roughly the same size as the sultanas. The candied peel, angelica and crystallised ginger need to be chopped smaller.

Now take a large roomy bowl, sift in the flour, then add the caster sugar, ground almonds, salt, butter, eggs and brandy and, using an electric hand whisk, whisk everything thoroughly for about a minute until smooth and creamy. Now fold in all the fruits, the nuts, grated zests and the lemon juice.

Next, using a large spoon, transfer the cake mixture to the tin and level off the top with the back of the spoon. Now tie a band of brown paper around the tin to give extra protection, and place the tin in the oven so the top of it is more or less in the centre.

Bake the cake for one hour, then place a double sheet of baking parchment over the top so it sits on the liner and turn the heat down to 150°C, gas mark 2 for a further 2 hours.

When it’s cooked it will be springy in the centre when you press lightly with your little finger. You can leave this cake in the tin till it’s absolutely cold, then remove from the tin peel off the liners and wrap it in parchment-lined foil to store in an airtight tin.

Decorate with Golden Apricot and Pecan Topping - see related recipe below.