Night Day Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and lemon-colored.
• In a separate bowl beat the eggs. Add the eggs and brandy to the butter-sugar mixture. Stir in the flour and spices and mix thoroughly. Add the raisins, almonds and good-luck bean. Mix thoroughly.
• Butter a 12-inch cake tin and line it with buttered wax paper. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for three hours. If the top browns too much during cooking, cover with foil.

Steps:

• Soak citrus peel, raisins, pine nuts and cherries in the sherry or brandy overnight until plump. Measure 140g/5oz of the fl our in a large mixing bowl and mix with the yeast. Tip the remaining flour and salt into a separate bowl and set aside. Heat the milk until just warm, make a well in the centre of the flour mix, and gradually add the milk to form a batter, beating until smooth. Cover with a tea towel and leave for 20 mins, until frothy.
• In another bowl, beat butter, sugar and zests until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Don't worry if it curdles, this won't affect the final cake. Stir the mix into the batter, along with the remaining flour, to make a dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 mins, until smooth and elastic. Knead in the fruit mix, a bit at a time, kneading after each addition until evenly distributed. This bit is messy, but dust the dough and your hands with flour as you work.
• Pop the dough into a clean bowl and cover. Leave for 2 hrs, until doubled in size. Butter a large baking sheet. Knead the dough again briefly, then shape into a sausage, about 50cm long. Curl onto the baking sheet to make a ring, pinching the ends to join. Tuck the trinket under the cake, cover and leave for 1 hr, until doubled in size. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.
• Slice the candied fruits and crush the sugar lumps into small pieces (put them in a cup and use the end of a rolling pin). Brush the top of the ring with egg and decorate with candied fruits and sugar. Bake for 45 mins, then transfer to a wire rack and brush the top with jam. Leave to cool before cutting.