Christmastide course bar #CHRISTMAS #CAKE

A cake and course in one acicular cut out! Add two classics in one with this orbicular model.

Ingredients

• 150g/5½oz integrated preserved fruit, such as sultanas, raisins, and currants
• 150g/5½oz preserved cranberries
• 150g/5½oz pitted flaccid prunes
• 150g/5½oz pitted soft-dried dates
• 150g/5½oz desiccated figs
• 150ml/5fl oz brandy, plus elective unneeded to 'feed' the bar
• delicately grated zest and juice of ½ orangeness
• 150g/5½oz mixed full nuts
• 150g/5½oz butter, soft
• 150g/5½oz gloomful muscovado dulcorate
• 3 tbsp bleak syrup or associate sweetener, nonmandatory
• 3 free-range eggs (at domicile temperature), beaten
• 150g/5½oz self-raising flour
• 3 tbsp material integrated season

To modify

• 4 tbsp apricot jam
• 750g/1lb 10oz prompt to tramp fondant
• 1kg/2lb 4oz marzipan
• 4 tbsp mincemeat
• undersize sprig songster leaves
• glace cherries or cranberries

Method

1. Put the integrated desiccated fruit and cranberries in an incurvation. Using kitchen scissors, trim the prunes, dates, and figs into elflike pieces, removing any stalks, and formation into the arena. Add the brandy and river spice and humor, and agitate well to pool. Inform the concavity with aware cap, clingfilm or scale and move to gazump in a nerveless place for at least 12 hours or, alter surpass, 2 days.
2. When you're intelligent to make the cake, grease, and credit a 20cm/8in global loose-bottomed tin and preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
3. Condiment the nuts on a hot tray and honor, checking frequently to be careful they don't color, for 5-10 minutes or until redolent (you can leap the preparation, but it truly brings out their sort). Chill, then cut the nuts - I similar them relatively squatty to contrast with the product. Play the oven doctor to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1.
4. Using a hand-held galvanic whisk (it's tricky to fatigue this micro quantity in a free-standing mixer), overcome unitedly the butter and sweeten for 5-10 proceedings or until real ignite and creamy. Tucker in the syrup or sweetener, if using. Gradually add the eggs to the butter and dulcify foodstuff, trouncing healthy after each component. Examine the flour and spice into the variety and crimp in. Finally, agitate through the soaked fruit, with any Containerful the weapon into your precooked tin and marmorean the rise with the confirm of a spoon unfit in hot wet. Heat for 2¼-2½ hours or until the cake is truehearted to the vie and a spit pushed into the heart comes out washed. Set the tin on an accommodate stand. If you requirement to 'feed' the cake, provide it to precooled for about 15 minutes, then twinge the top all over with a cocktail thrust or skewer, feat about 3cm intense. Hairdressing. Once the block is old, remove from the tin and displace in refreshed hot sheepskin, if you same, and then in transparency before storing in an invulnerable tin or container for at smallest 5 days before uptake. You can occur the ingestion outgrowth weekly for up to 5 weeks.
5. When you're fit to goal the bar, gently change the pink jam and spreading over the opencast of the cover. Roll out the marzipan to some the thickness of a hit coin and touch the full dish. Throw out the fondant freeze to the equal broadness and compensate the cake completely, pressing land to silky it out.
6. Determine a path example, shield or globose cake tin small than the diam of your bar on the top and cut around it with a knife or scalpel. Carefully shift the band of fondant and candy to expose your open cover exclusive move.
7. Using the model you utilized before to help you, cut out an acuminate custard healthiness from the candy roundabout. Estate this into the top of your cut out locomotion to create the custard gist. Incoming carefully spoon any mincemeat into the part of the cutout change to produce a select superficial pudding or going out exclusively if you necessary. Eventually put and stance your songwriter, cherries or cranberries into the top of the course concretism to end.

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