Recipe for Christmas Tunis Cake

Sunday, December 17, 2006

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So a friend mentioned today about Tunis Cake, an alternative Christmas Cake his Mum used to spend some time obtaining or making at Christmas…So this recipe is for Roger

Ingredients
325g self raising flour (sifted)
250g softened butter
250g castor sugar
175g ground almonds
1 lemon juice, and rind
4 eggs

Now for the topping:
Chocolate topping: 150g dark chocolate; 40g butter; 1.5 tbsp water

and if you want it orange butter cream filling:
50g icing sugar, sifted;
25g butter, softened;
2 tsp orange juice;
yellow food colouring (or not as desired)

and marzipan

(see the marzipan recipe on this website)

Method
- Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until pale.
- Add the eggs, flour, lemon juice, lemon rind and ground almonds, mixing thoroughly.
- Place the mixture into a 8in greased and floured cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 150oC/300oF/gas mark 2 for one hour or until springy in the middle when pressed.
- Leave on a wire rack to cool.
- To decorate the cake, wrap some greased proof paper around the sides of the cake, standing proud about 3cm of the top, securing this with a piece of string.
- Put all topping ingredients in a basin over a pan of very hot water. Leave 10 mins to melt, stir till smooth. Leave to cool.
- Pour chocolate icing over top of cake; smooth. Leave to set. Remove paper.
- There should be a good covering of chocolate on the cake.
- Once completely set,
- Marzipan fruits and leaves: form two thirds of marzipan into a selection of apples, pears, bananas, oranges and lemons. Roll oranges and lemons over a nutmeg grater. Place a clove in each fruit to resemble stalk. Us remaining marzipan to make 7 small ivy leaves and tendrils. Paint with food colourings. Leave to harden, arrange on cake.

“Christmas Cakes” (Francesca Bosca)