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Mini Christmas cakes

Enjoy your favourite festive treat in pint-sized form with this mini Christmas cakes recipe. These cakes are perfect for sharing with loved ones (although we wouldn't blame you if you kept them for yourself!)
9
3H
4H

This recipe first appeared in Food magazine.

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Ingredients

To decorate

Method

1.Place the dried fruit into a bowl and pour over the brandy. Leave for 3-4 hours (or overnight).
2.When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 140ºC. Line a 20cm square baking pan with two layers of baking paper, making sure it is 2-3cm higher than the top of the tin.
3.Cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition. Stir in the marmalade and essences.
4.Sift the flour, spices and baking soda into a separate bowl. Add the sifted dry ingredients and the soaked fruit (including any liquid) alternately to the creamed mixture. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the top with the back of the spoon (the mixture should come within 1cm of the top of the pan).
5.Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, then reduce the heat to 130ºC for another 2 hours, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (you may want to cover the top with a sheet of tinfoil or baking paper towards the end of the cooking time). Leave to cool in the pan.
6.When ready to decorate, cut the cake into nine squares, trimming them so that they are nice and even.
7.Mix the apricot jam and water together to form a glaze (sieve if necessary). Brush a thin layer of glaze over the top and sides of each cake.
8.Roll out the fondant to 3-4mm thick, using icing sugar to dust the surface. Lay the fondant over the top of each cake and smooth gently down the sides, using your hands to mould into place. Trim off any excess. Brush another thin layer of apricot glaze over the top. Cover with another layer of fondant in exactly the same way (if you are using marzipan or almond icing, do the almond layer first).
9.For extra decoration, use a cutter to cut out shapes and brush them with a tiny amount of water before fixing into place.

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