This is a little later than I would have liked but being the Queen is a tough gig sometimes! I have finally found a moment to pop this recipe up and just in the nick of time. However, because this is the quickest and easiest Christmas Cake you will ever create I don't think my tardiness will be a major problem. I literally whipped up four of them in the palace kitchen in 2 hours! This recipe is a nod to an old family recipe which was shared with me by a fabulous friend. I have added a few royal touches and of course, some Combi-Steam magic and then, voila! It's absolutely delicious and my homage to the original recipe from a my friend’s grandma who they call Tempy!

You don’t need a lot of steam for baking this one because it is already nice and moist but a little bit does help, mainly to help to cook it through a little faster and also more evenly. We also are using our Combi-Steam here to cook the fruit first which is where the name “boiled” fruit cake comes from. Once upon a time the fruit would have been simmered in a pot for a long time to soften it. Here this process is completely simplified by softening the fruit and developing the flavour which is just a one step wonder and there is no way to get it wrong. You can’t over-steam it, your can’t “boil it over” and make a mess. It’s just brilliant.

Ingredients:
425gm crushed pineapple, undrained
125g butter
1 cup caster sugar
250g sultanas
125g each: chopped dates and glace cherries
1 level tsp bicard bicarb
2 eggs
1 cup SR flour
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp groun nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
pinch salt
blanched almonds and/or extra glace cherries to decorate if desired

Method:

1. Combine the undrained pineapple, butter, sugar, sultanas, dates and cherries in a saucepan.

2. Place into a shallow flat bottomed dish and place into the Combi-Steam. Select Steam. Set the temperature to 100°C/100%. Cook for 30 minutes. Remove the dish from the Combi-Steam and stir in the bicarb soda, then set aside to cool for 5 minutes while stirring continuously.

3. Beat eggs well and stir into the cooled mixture. Whisk together the flour, spices and salt and fold into the fruit. Mix well to combine.

4. Pour the batter into a 20cm spring form cake tin which has been greased and lined both around the sides and on the bottom. Make sure the paper is a bit higher than the tin. Decorate the top with almonds and cherries if desired (I sometimes do and sometimes don’t).

5. Select Combination Steam (Hot Air with Steaming) on your Combi-Steam. Set the temperature to 160°C. (For variable Steam set to 20%) Place a rack into the centre of the oven. Allow the oven to pre-heat.

6. Once the oven reaches temperature place the cake onto the rack. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (without any uncooked mixture sticking to it). Remove the cake and cool in the tin on a cake rack for 30 minutes then undo the pan and leave out of the pan to cool completely.

7. Store in an airtight container and enjoy as required.

Note: You can also double the recipe and bake two cakes in the oven at the same time if you like - just cook them on separate racks, one lower down and one higher up in your oven.

V-ZUG special note: Originally when I developed this recipe I was using my first Combi Steam oven from V-ZUG. For those of you that may have that model still (as I do!) you can also use BakeOmatic to cook this recipe. The option within BakeOmatic is Torte. It will automatically set the cooking time and temperature for you and you start from a cold oven (no preheating). The BakeOmatic Torte option is available in V-ZUG Combi Steam ovens the are likely more than 5 years old and have the small dial button in the centre with a series of smaller push buttons on either side. The touchscreen models do not have this option - so use the recipe details above instead.

Merry Christmas loyal ones!

Yours in the kitchen,

The CSQ. x