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–+ servings

Sri lankan Christmas cake

Moist Sri Lankan rich cake served as Christmas cake
5 from 2 votes
Calories:

Servings: 32 pieces

Equipment

  • Oven
  • Cake mixer

Ingredients

Dried fruits ( Step 1)

  • 250 g Sultana
  • 100 g Raisin
  • 125 g Ginger preserve or candied ginger chopped
  • 125 g chow chow chopped
  • 250 g glace cherry or macerated cherries chopped
  • 200 g Brandy

Semolina & Butter mix (Step 2)

  • 250 g Butter Unsalted
  • 200 g Semolina

Egg yolk mix (Step 3 )

  • 500 g White Sugar (The quantity can be reduced to 400g depending on the sweetness of the candied fruits)
  • 13 Egg yolks

Spices and flavouring

  • 14 g Almond essence
  • 14 g Vanilla essence
  • 2 tsp Rose essence
  • 3 tsp Mixed spices

Final ingredients (Step 4)

  • 40 g Golden syrup or bees honey
  • 200 g Strawberry jam
  • 400 g Cashews chopped
  • 400 g Pumpkin preserve also known as melon candy or puhul dosi chopped

Step 5

  • 7 Egg white Beaten to soft peak

Assembly

  • 250 g Ready to roll marzipan
  • Enough brandy to brush on the cake

Instructions

How to preheat and line the trays

  • Preheat oven to 150C ( conventional) Line 2 baking trays (25x25cm) with 3 oil paper ( this is to prevent it from burning on the bottom)

Soaking dried fruits (Step 1 + half of the spices and flavouring)

  • 2-3 days prior to making the cake, into a large bowl place raisings sultanas ( do not chop these), Chopped ginger preserve, chow chow, glace cherries. add half of the vanilla essence, half of the rose essence, half of the almond essence and half of the mixedspice and reserve the rest to add into the cake batter directly.Finally, add the brandy, mix well with a spoon. cover with cling wrap and leave aside
    Note: if you have 2 weeks to soak the fruits then do so, but 2-3 days is totally fine.

Semolina & Butter mix (Step 2)

  • Add semolina to a pan and toast it on a low heat for about 5-6 minutes until it is toasted and has a slight brown colour like sand
  • Place the toasted semolina to a bowl while it is hot and add butter and mix well with a wooden spoon until well incorporated. leave aside

Egg yolk mix + remaining flavouring ( Step 3)

  • In a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment add the egg yolk and sugar and mix well until fluffy and creamy, you will see the mixture is lightly pale colour and has doubled in size. leave aside.
  • Add the remaining spices and flavourings ( allspice, almond esssence rose essence, vanilla essence) and strawberry jam to the soaked fruit mix ( Step 1) from this point everything needs to be folded by hand

Step 4 ( Mixing all components)

  • Into a large bowl add the semolina mix (step 2), egg yolk mix (step 3), soaked fruit mix (step 1), golden syrup, cashews, pumpkin preserve and fold with a wooden spoon until well incorporated. (do not over mix)

Step 5

  • In a clean mixer with the whisk attachment place the egg whites and beat until soft peaks are formed, finally fold the whisked egg whites gradually to the cake mixture
  • Pour the mixture into the prepared trays (please note this cake will not rise as there is no baking powder, so don't fill it 3/4, fill it to the top)
  • Bake in the preheated oven for 2h - 2 hours and 30 minutes until it is cooked
    All ovens are different if the top of the cake looks like it is getting brown too much after 1 hour, cover the top with foil and return to the oven.
  • Once fully baked, While it is hot brush barndy on the top using a brush. Leave the cake in the pan until cooled down
  • Once cooled take it off the tray, store it in a tightly wrapped container and every 2 days brush it with brandy
  • When you are ready to wrap the cake, brush it with brandy and add a layer of marzipan on the top ( Roll out the marzipan to 1mm-2mm thickness)
    Cut the cake into square pieces (45mmx45mm) and wrap it with tissue paper and wrapping paper straight away.

Video

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