Chocolate Christmas cake
Author: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 16
 
Ingredients
  • 400g glace morello cherries
  • 150g raisins
  • 150g currants
  • 75g dried apricots, cut into 4 pieces
  • 100g chocolate drops
  • 175 g soft unsalted butter
  • 175 g dark muscovado sugar
  • 175 ml runny honey
  • 125 ml Baileys Irish Cream
  • Juice and zest of 2 oranges
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 4 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 3 large eggs beaten
  • 150g self raising flour
  • 75g flaked almonds
  • 50g ground hazelnuts
  • **ICING**
  • Black cherry jam - 1 tbsp approx
  • 500g Renshaws chocolate flavoured icing
  • 1 packet of Thorntons dark chocolate covered cherry truffles.
Instructions
  1. Pre heat the oven to 150C / 130oC (fan)
  2. Grease and line an 8 inch loose bottomed cake tin - ensure that the grease proof paper comes up the sides of the tin
  3. Put the fruit, butter, sugar, Baileys, runny honey, orange Zest and juice, mixed spice and cocoa powder into a large saucepan.
  4. Bring to the boil gently, stirring all the time and then allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
  5. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 30 minutes.
  6. After at least 30 minutes, add all of the remaining ingredients, and stir to combine.
  7. Pour the fruit cake mixture into the prepared cake tin.
  8. Place in the oven and bake for 100-120 minutes, until the cake is cooked all the way through, but you still want it to be a little gooey in the middle.
  9. Leave to cool and then carefully remove from the tin.
  10. Once cooled you can ice your cake
  11. **ICING**
  12. Roll out the icing large enough to cover the entire cake
  13. Cover the cake in the cherry jam (I melted my jam to make a sauce)
  14. Place the icing over the cake and smooth over,
  15. trim off any excess of the icing
  16. Top with the truffles
  17. I also added some festive ribbon to cover up the blemishes!
  18. Keep in a airtight tin and it should keep as a normal Christmas cake does *fingers crossed*
Recipe by Mummy Mishaps at http://www.mummymishaps.co.uk/2014/12/chocolate-cherry-christmas-cake.html