Baked Bean Tin Christmas Cake

12 mini (small baked bean tin) cakes.

Original full sized cake recipe from Prima Christmas 2005 supplement

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Christmas

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings 12

200 g glace cherries
500 g mixed dried fruit Aldi do a very nice one
500 g sultanas
zest of one orange
200 ml sherry or other suitable alcohol like whisky brandy or sloe gin (if you don’t want to use alcohol, use orange juice instead)
225 g butter softened
225 g dark brown sugar
4 large eggs lightly beaten
225 g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp mixed spice
50 g whole almonds

Put cherries and other dried fruits plus zest in bowl and soak in sherry overnight.
Line the cake tins: Lightly grease base and sides. Line sides with a double thickness of baking parchment that stands 5cm above tin. Make 1 cm cuts at base to help it lie flat. Line base with double layer of parchment.
Preheat oven to 150°c. Whisk butter and sugar for 5 min till light and fluffy. Whisk in eggs slowly. When almost added, whisk in some flour to stop it curdling.
Fold in flour, spices, fruit and almonds. Spoon into lined tin and make a small dip in the middle of the mixture.
Wrap tin in a double thickness of brown paper (or parchment) and tie with piece of string. Cook for 60-90 minutes. If you want the top of the cake to brown a bit more untie the string, so the top of paper is open, for the last quarter an hour.

This recipe also makes a 8 inch (20 cm) round cake or a 7 in (18 cm) square one just bake for 3.5-4 hours instead.

Look here for more detailed instructions on how to line cake tins. Lining mini cake tins takes a great deal longer than you think.