The first Christmas after I got married, my husband had to work on Christmas Day so I met him at lunchtime and we had a picnic lunch in the Botanical Gardens, which was a lovely way to celebrate our first Christmas together.  That first Christmas also meant my first Christmas cake baking effort.  It was a disaster, a soggy undercooked cake – ruined. When I told Mum she smiled and told me to mashing it all up in a bowl add a cup of cold tea and recook it as a pudding and to this day I’m still amazed that it worked.  My cooking improved somewhat after that and this Dutch Fruit Cake became the recipe I used for many years.  Adding the mixed peel and nuts and brushing the cake with brandy while still hot makes the cake a little more Christmasy.DUTCH FRUIT CAKE

• 125g butter
• 250g sugar
• 1 cup cold water
• 125g currants
• 250g raisins
• 375g sultanas
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• lemon juice
• 2 eggs well beaten
• 1 cup Self Raising Flour
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 dessertspoon treacle or golden syrup
• ½ teaspoon bi-carb soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon of boiling water

Line a cake tin with a layer of brown paper and a layer of baking paper.  Boil together butter, sugar, water, fruit, spices, lemon juice for 3 minutes.  Set aside to cool.  When cool stir in beaten eggs, flours, treacle and lastly bi-carb soda dissolved in boiling water.   Bake in a moderate oven 180o for 2 hours.  Mixed peel and nuts can be added if like.  For a Christmas touch – when still hot from the oven pierce the cake with a skewer and brush with brandy.