Unseasonal Cake

It was my friend A's birthday at the weekend and I'd promised a cake. Problem is, he's a little bit fussy about what he'll eat (read: worse than a grumpy toddler raised on Monster Munch...). Usually that just results in chocolate and everyone's happy, but I've decided to give up chocolate for 'lent' (non-religious, hence the '') and refused to make a cake I couldn't eat.


So he said he wanted a fruit cake, 'like the bottom of a Christmas cake'. I think that meant he didn't want the icing or the marzipan.


All good, I think marzipan is the devil's ear wax.


So, I hied over Nigella for a Christmas cake recipe. It's her quick and easy one, which I also made as cupcakes at Christmas. To avoid it looking too festive, I popped a selection of nuts on top and glued them down with apricot jam glaze. Very sticky, but look how pretty!

It has a definite WI feel to it, I think, and has put me in mind of seed cakes and other things generally only eaten by Miss Marple.


The recipe's in the Christmas section of Feast. Needless to say, I don't faff about with all the wrapping in brown paper she's so keen on - I'm just very generous/lazy with lining of tin and that seems to do the job.