Have you ever made a Christmas Cake? No me neither, until this year when Easyweigh in Newport made it simple with their Christmas Cake Recipe Kit. The pack contains everything you need ready to mix. At just £10 it has exactly the right amount of plain flour, dark brown sugar, currants , raisins, sultanas, apricots, cherries, mixed peel, flaked almonds, black treacle, mixed spice, whole nutmeg, orange and lemon. Recipe sheet included. You just need to add your own butter, eggs and alcohol.
Easy to follow recipe
The recipe was easy to follow but due to a slight hiccup (possibly due to trying the brandy that I had bought specifically for the cake) I ended up having to make two versions. On my first attempt I forgot to add the dark treacle and so the cake was a rather delicious and very fruit filled cake but didn’t really cut the mustard as a Christmas Cake. So my family and I ate it over half term. I can absolutely vouch for the wonderful plump fruit and flavour of the nutmeg and mixed spice really giving a nostalgic festive taste.
remember the treacle
Try number two was much darker and more moist with the addition of the treacle (and more brandy) and is currently tied up in baking paper and foil in a cupboard waiting to be iced. Everytime I open that cupboard I get a wonderful whiff of nutmeg, fruity sweetness and a sense of anticipation for Christmas. It may not be the kind of Christmas that we have had in the past, with the prospect of Coronavirus keeping many of our loved ones out of arms reach, but at least the familiarity of Christmas tastes are still going to be a comforting part of the day.
The cakes have been a total hit with people on the Isle of Wight who have never attempted festive baking before because with all the ingredients pre-weighed, the effort is minimal. Best of all there is no waste; you are only supplied with exactly what you need. This means that you won’t be left over with a jar of mixed spice or half a tub of mixed peel lounging forlornly in your store cupboard for the next two years.
Its environmentally friendly too, Easyweigh deliver the items that you need in sustainable paper packaging. By buying in bulk and creating strong relationships with small, local suppliers they have developed a circular economy, exchanging containers with suppliers and offering customers the choice of bringing their own containers to weigh items into.
