What is baumkuchen, stollen, panettone, panforte, roe, piparkukas, kuchyukai? These are all pastries that are traditionally baked in different countries at Christmas. Somewhere this, in Russia - gingerbread, and somewhere Christmas cake with nuts and dried fruits. Today we will bake just such a classic cake, add a mixture of dried fruits, candied fruits to it. Let's put in the nuts. And we get a delicious, all soaked in flavors English Christmas cake. And lovers of cottage cheese baking will find a crumbly ring with bright candied fruits and nuts. Everything with a photo, step by step.

English Christmas muffin with dried fruits and nuts

It turns out to be springy and dense, so we take as many as 3 teaspoons of baking powder for the dough for it.

As for dried fruits, candied fruits and nuts, three types of raisins are traditionally put in England: light and dark (from varieties of light and green grapes), dark (from dark varieties of grapes), dried cherries, cranberries, dried apricots. They are soaked in brandy or rum. In my recipe for soaking, I used water, as the cupcake was intended for the whole family, including children. Naturally, if for some reason you do not want to use alcohol, then just soak in water. But this must be done, even if your fruit does not seem very dry. So they will at least partially leave any additives used for drying and storage. Nuts are usually hazelnuts and almonds, but you can use the ones that are available. The amount of all these ingredients should be no more than 500 grams.

Cake ingredients:

• a mixture of dried fruits / candied fruits / nuts - 350-500gr;
• brandy or cognac - 50ml (optional);
• eggs - 4-5 pcs;
• sugar - 150g;
• butter - 200g;
• vanilla sugar - 1 tsp;
• baking powder for dough - 3 tsp;
• flour - 250-300gr.

How to make a Christmas cupcake

1. We wash the dried fruits under running water. Pour hot water into a bowl. Put dried fruits and leave for 20 minutes. If you will be using alcohol, substitute it for water.
   
2. After this time, we drain the water, put the soaked dried fruits on a paper towel so that they dry out.
   
3. Cut such large fruits as dried apricots, prunes into smaller pieces. Chop the nuts with a knife or pour them into a bag and roll them on top with a rolling pin.
   
4. Cooking the dough. Put softened butter in a bowl, add sugar and grind with a spoon.
   
5. We break eggs. If 4 eggs are enough large enough, take small ones 5. Beat with a mixer.
   
   
6. We put dried fruits and nuts.
   
7. We take 250 grams of flour, first sift it together with baking powder into another bowl, and then add it to our mixture.
8. The dough for the cake is already heavy due to the large number of additives, so in order not to make it heavier with a large amount of flour, you need to look at its consistency. It should look like thick sour cream.
   
9. Traditionally, a large log shape is used to bake a Christmas cake, but you can also make portioned muffins in silicone tins. The form must first be greased with butter.
10. We spread the dough into it.
    
11. We bake the cake in an oven heated to 180-200 ° C for 50 minutes. It is better not to open the door during baking. After the specified time, you can get it out and check for readiness with a toothpick.
    
12. Cool the finished cake in the mold, then take it out and let it cool completely before starting to decorate it.
13. The easiest way to decorate is with powdered sugar.
    
14. You can make icing with powdered sugar and lemon juice. For this, 2 tbsp. powdered sugar mix with 4 tbsp. lemon juice. Add the juice gradually, focusing on the thickness of the glaze.
    
15. After dusting or icing the Christmas cake, garnish with candied fruits, nuts, lemon or orange slices to your liking.
    
    

Candied Christmas Curd Cupcake

Unlike the previous recipe, the ring turns out to be oily, but more crumbly. It can be baked not only in the form of a ring, but also in rectangular, round or portioned molds. Grease the finished ring with hot jam. According to the recipe, it should be apricot or peach jam, but you can use any other and even jam syrup.

Grocery list:

• cottage cheese - 200g;
• eggs - 2 pcs;
• sugar - 200g;
• vegetable oil - 3/4 cup (approx. 190ml);
• soda - 1/3 tsp;
• flour - 1/2 cup (80g);
• candied fruits + nuts - a handful;
• apricot (peach) jam - 2 tablespoons

How to bake a Christmas cupcake

And our Christmas or New Year's cupcake is ready!

This recipe, mysterious and wonderful, like a premonition of the Holiday, fascinated me! An amazing cupcake, full of dried fruits and nuts of all kinds (of which there is more than dough!), Amazingly aromatic and beautiful; unusual and simple at the same time ... This is a delicious recipe!

An English Christmas muffin with dried fruits and nuts should be baked 2-4 weeks, or 6 weeks before Christmas, so that it brews well. This year I tried the recipe for the first time and am sharing with you, and by next Christmas we will bake together! We have already learned how to bake traditional German stollen and Austrian thaler biscuits, but now let's master English Christmas baking.

I cooked according to the recipe from Victoria Golovashevich, but not the full norm, but half a portion - it turned out a cake in the form of 17 cm.

Ingredients:

• 115 g wheat flour;
• 115 g sugar;
• 115 g butter;
• 2 large eggs;
• 0.5 teaspoon ground ginger;
• ¼ a teaspoon of ground cinnamon;
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• A pinch of vanillin;
• 1/6 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 tablespoon of liquid dark honey (for example, buckwheat; can be replaced with sweet syrup);
• Orange peel;
• 150 ml of cognac for soaking dried fruits and 75 ml for soaking a cake;
• 350 g of different dried fruits, the more types, the more interesting, tasty and colorful the cake will be. I took dark and light raisins, dried cranberries and cherries; dried apricots and prunes.
• 50 g almonds;
• 25 g hazelnuts;
• 25 g pistachios;
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (there was no baking powder in the original recipe, I added it myself).

For registration:

• A bag of vanilla glaze;
• 1 egg white;
• On request - confectionery sprinkles.

How to bake:

Dried fruits must be soaked in cognac in advance - at least one day in advance. Or it can be done in a week or two, though I haven't tried it. When they are infused and soaked, you can start preparing the cake.

Sprinkle the nuts on a baking sheet and put in the oven preheated to 200 C. Dry, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes. Let it cool.

Nuts and dried fruits can be cut into pieces, or you can put them whole in the dough. The second option is simpler, faster and, according to the author of the recipe, the cupcake turns out to be more beautiful in the context. But when cut into pieces, the dough rises more easily.

Tighten the bottom of the mold with confectionery parchment, grease the paper and the walls of the mold with oil.

Beat the softened butter with sugar.

Add honey. If it is sugared and becomes thick, heat it a little in a water bath - the honey will become liquid again. Wash the orange thoroughly with a brush under hot water, remove the zest and also add to the dough, beat slightly. Add eggs one at a time, beat until fluffy each time.

Sift flour, add spices, salt and baking powder.

Mix the dough.

We combine dried and cooled nuts with dried fruits, after draining the unabsorbed brandy.

Add the colorful, aromatic mixture to the dough and mix thoroughly. We spread the dough into a mold.

Baking English dried fruit muffins is a whole story, long and exciting! A dense cake with so many fruits and nuts should bake well in the middle without burning on the outside. We put the dish on the middle level and bake at 150C for about 1.5 hours. The cupcake will turn brown, but the center is still moist. Therefore, cover the dish with baking foil so that the top does not burn, and I put a cast-iron pan with water on the bottom of the oven to protect the bottom of the cake from burning. We reduce the temperature to 130C and continue to slowly bake the cake until tender, and it will take up to 3 hours. You can determine the exact baking time according to your oven by tasting the cake with a wooden stick. When it's dry, the cake is ready.

Taking the form out of the oven, let the cake cool completely. Then turn it over and make holes with a skewer, as in the recipe for lemon or orange muffins. And soak with cognac, pouring evenly with a tablespoon.

After waiting until the cognac is absorbed, wrap the cake in two layers of parchment, and then in foil.

Then I put the wrapped cupcake in a food bag and tied it tightly. Now you need to be patient - this miracle of baking should be stored for 2 to 4 weeks in a dry, cool place. I kept it in the refrigerator, and if there is no frost outside, it can be on the balcony. Don't worry that the cake will go bad - nothing will happen to it, because it is saturated with a large amount of alcohol, which acts as a preservative. Moreover, in theory, by the time of tasting the cake, the alcohol evaporates, leaving a delicious aroma.

A week before Christmas (originally 2) I took out a cupcake to decorate with icing.

The author makes the Royal icing, and I cooked vanilla, such as for decorating Easter cakes. Beat the frosting with fresh egg white until a thick, snow-white mass, and cover the top and sides of the cake with it.

The remaining time before the holiday we keep the cake in the air so that the icing dries - again, in a dry and cool place.

And now, finally, we have tasted this wonderful Christmas Cupcake!

How delicious it smells !!! And what a rich sectional view! .. Surprisingly dark, like golden-brown velvet, and just as tender - the cake did not dry a bit, on the contrary, it turned out to be very tender, soft and crumbled when sliced. Even whole nuts are soft! And the glaze, probably, needs to be picked up another - this dried up and also crumbled. And, no matter what they write about how alcohol evaporates, the taste of the cupcake seemed to me very much like "Cherry with cognac" candies. But how tasty and unusual it is !!! The British are great :) Now we will bake this wonderful cupcake for Christmas!

Winter holidays in Europe and the USA are not complete without sweet pastries, and the famous cupcake has long become a symbol of Christmas in England. Oliver Cromwell never succeeded in eradicating the tradition of baking cupcakes on the eve of Christmas. Over time, each country has its own festive sweets, but the English Christmas cake is considered the most delicious dessert!

Fun Facts About Christmas Cupcake

English housewives once started making Christmas pastries a month and a half before the holiday, and there is an explanation for this. The fact is that some ingredients for making a cake - dried apricots, prunes, raisins, dates, cherries, pineapple pieces - are aged in rum, cognac, sherry or Madeira with the addition of spices for about a week. In this case, you need to periodically stir fruits and berries to evenly soak them. If you follow the technology for making muffins, then you should take 0.5 cups of alcohol per 0.5 kg of dried fruit.

Then the Christmas dough was kneaded from eggs, sugar, butter and flour, and the filling was added. Such a cake was even baked for several hours at a low temperature, after which it was covered with glaze, decorated with nuts and marzipan. While the cake stood and "waited" for Christmas, it became tastier, softer and more aromatic, while the pastry did not spoil for a long time due to the alcohol content in it.

How to make a cupcake at home: preparing the filling

Modern housewives do not keep dried fruits in alcohol for so long and do not bake a cake for four hours. The recipes for Christmas muffins are simplified for our convenience, so they are less time consuming, which fortunately does not affect their taste at all. So, take 500 g of any dried fruits and dried berries, rinse them well, remove the seeds and cut into small pieces along with fried nuts and candied fruits. Put all the ingredients in a jar, add spices and pour half a glass of any strong alcohol - you can take liqueur or tincture. It is better to insist dried fruits for a week, shaking occasionally, but if there is no time, mix alcohol with very hot tea and pour over the fruit overnight. Thanks to boiling water, the ingredients are soaked instantly, becoming incredibly soft, juicy, aromatic and piquant.

How to make Christmas cupcake dough

Cooking muffins at home only seems difficult, in fact, they cook quickly, because the dough does not need to rise and lie down for a long time. Whisk in soft butter and sugar until foamy, add eggs and then flour mixed with baking soda or baking powder. In some recipes for New Year's muffins, it is recommended to use only yolks, and replace some of the wheat flour with almond flour. There are recipes where eggs are beaten with sugar until creamy, and butter is mixed with a part of the flour, then both mixtures are combined, and the dough is kneaded with the remaining flour. It is important that the eggs are at room temperature, although some housewives do without them altogether. Sometimes confectioners use molasses, honey or dark sugar instead of white sugar, flavoring the cake with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, lemon or orange peel.

The subtleties of proper baking

The cake mold must first be prepared - grease the bottom and walls with oil, then lay out with baking paper, while serious pastry chefs fasten the joints with a stapler. The paper should protrude beyond the edges of the pan so that the cake can be easily removed - of course, after it has cooled down.

Since the Christmas cake dough is very heavy and moist, bake it at a low temperature so that it bakes well and does not burn the dried fruit. With a mold height of 5–7 cm, the oven needs 1–3 hours, so the approximate time can be calculated based on the size of the mold, periodically testing the cake for readiness with a wooden stick. The cooking time also depends on the density of the dough and the quality of the products. If the top is browned well and the cake is not baked, cover it with foil and continue baking.

Never remove the Christmas cake from the pan while it is hot - it should cool down well. It is advisable to cover it with foil on top for this time. Cooling down, the cake will thicken and become more elastic, you just have to wrap it in several layers of baking paper, and wrap it with foil on top. Then the baked goods will be able to "ripen" until Christmas from 1 to 4 weeks, and you can store it in this form for six months at room temperature and a year in the refrigerator, periodically pouring it with alcohol. Every month it becomes softer and tastier, spreading an unmatched aroma reminiscent of Christmas throughout the house ...

Secrets of making Christmas cupcakes at home

If you want your Christmas pastries to last longer, add a little honey, jam and molasses to the dough, even if they are not in the recipe: they retain moisture in the cake and are a kind of preservatives.

There is another secret, thanks to which the pieces of the filling that are outside will not burn in the oven, and the cake will turn out to be smooth and beautiful - it will be more pleasant to decorate. After kneading (before adding dried fruits), separate a little dough and spread it over the shape, making the bottom and sides. Next, mix the filling into the remaining dough, put it in a mold, and spread a little with the dough without filling on top so that the nuts and dried fruits of the top layer do not burn. By the way, many housewives use tall cookie tin boxes for baking - they are perfect for a cupcake. After placing the dough in a mold, make a small indentation in the middle, otherwise, during baking, the cake will rise in a slide and it will be difficult to decorate it.

If you decide to leave your cupcake in paper and foil for a few months, water it every three days with alcohol, which acts as a preservative. In this case, the alcohol will actively evaporate, so the taste of the baking will not change, and in order for the cake to be completely saturated, you need to make holes in it with a wooden skewer and pour cognac or brandy into them.

Cupcake decorating is an art

How to serve an unadorned Christmas cupcake on the table? On Christmas, everything should be spectacular and unusual, so English housewives turn baked goods into a work of art, decorating the cake with mastic figurines. You can do it easier - sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar or cover with regular fondant.

It turns out very beautiful cake with protein glaze, for which one chilled protein is well beaten with a mixer until fluffy, and then 0.5-1 cup of powdered sugar is added to it, continuing to beat. When the frosting thickens, pour 1 tsp into it. lemon juice and beat for another half minute. If you cover a layer of jam with a delicate protein glaze and immediately decorate the cake with cake powder, it will turn out to be original and incredibly tasty.

Add the recipe to your favorites!

English Christmas cake is a traditional Christmas pastry with a lot of dried fruits, candied fruits and nuts, impregnated with the aroma of spices and strong alcohol. The recipe has been known since the 16th century and has remained unchanged to this day. The preparation of this cake is stretched out in time, they begin to cook it six or at least two weeks before Christmas: dried fruits are insisted in aged rum, dough is baked with them, and then the finished product is soaked in aromatic alcohol for several more days or even weeks. They say that such a cake can be stored for a very long time - up to six months, but hardly anyone checked it. Is there someone who can resist this unusual delicacy for six months? I think not, and you will definitely agree with me if you cook this cupcake in your home kitchen. On the mysterious pre-Christmas days, when the world is filled with expectation of miracles, it is this old cupcake that will fill your home with extraordinary aromas and create a unique atmosphere of the upcoming Great Holiday.

Other Christmas Recipes:

Ingredients:

Spicy Fruit Blend:

• prunes 150 gr
• dried apricots 150 gr
• dried cherries 150 gr
• candied fruits 100 gr
• rum 150 ml
• zest of 1 orange
• zest of 1 lemon
• ground cinnamon 1 tsp
• ground dry ginger 1/4 tsp
• ground cloves 1/4 tsp

For the test:

• nuts 80 gr (any)
• premium wheat flour 200 gr
• butter 150 gr
• brown sugar 150 gr
• eggs 3 pcs
• baking powder 1 tsp

For impregnation:

You will also need a round shape with a diameter of 20 cm with a side of at least 7-8 cm.It is convenient to bake such a cake in paper forms for cakes - 2 forms with a diameter of 10-12 cm.The dough for this cake is heavy, does not rise much, so the form can be filled almost to top.

Can any of the ingredients be replaced or eliminated? Sure. You can use regular white sugar, reduce the amount of dried fruits and spices, replace rum with cognac or Cointreau orange liqueur - this will also be delicious. But, if you want to get that extraordinary taste of cake, which is known since ancient times, follow this recipe. Brown sugar, a selection of spices and aged rum create a unique bouquet of aromas. An English Christmas muffin is a time to preserve the authenticity of a recipe.

Step-by-step photo recipe for cooking:

In any glass or ceramic container (volume 2 liters) combine all dried fruits (chop large), candied fruits, spices, zest, orange and lemon juice, add rum and mix well. Seal, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least two days (up to two weeks is possible). Stir the mixture periodically. When the fruit mixture is ready, start baking the cake.

Whisk well softened butter with sugar - it is convenient to beat with a blender with a whisk attachment.

Advice: if the room is cold, the butter may not whip well - put the bowl of butter in a large bowl of hot water for a while while whipping and the process will go faster.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well each time.

Add flour with baking powder and nuts, stir until smooth with a spatula. If the nuts are large, chop them with a knife. Hazelnuts can be put whole.

Add the fruit mixture to the dough and mix well. The result is not a dough with the addition of fruits, but a lot of fruits, a little glued together with the dough. It should be so.

Grease the pan with butter and flour (French shirt). If you are using a metal snap cake pan, cover the bottom with baking paper.

Pour the dough into a mold and flatten. You can sprinkle nuts on top for decoration - chopped pistachios or whole almonds, laid out in a circle, look beautiful on the finished cake.

Bake in a preheated oven at t 170 ° C for 1.5 hours. If the top starts to burn, cover the tin with foil. Check readiness with a wooden skewer - when pierced, it will be sticky (due to dried fruits), but without raw dough.

Cool the finished cake a little and remove from the mold. Unlike modern airy muffins, this ancient muffin is heavy (a kilogram of dried fruit alone!), And it should be.

How to soak a cupcake

In the classic version, the cake is infused for three weeks with impregnation every 5-7 days. But you can shorten the infusion time. The next day, repeat the impregnation, again leaving the cake in the foil for a day. Do this for 4 days in a row, using 70 ml of rum each time.

The days before Christmas are always special: the smell of pine needles, the shine of decorations, the preparation of gifts, a pleasant bustle, ... and a bright bouquet of aromas of this extraordinary Christmas cake, generously strewn with fruits and soaked in rum!

Impregnation with rum, with intervals for infusion, when the processes of mixing and combining flavors and aromas invisible to the eye take place inside the baking, turns the heavy mass of this cake into a unique and unique dessert.

It is believed that during a long infusion, alcohol completely evaporates, but I still do not advise giving this cupcake to children. Bake with the kids And everyone will love it - a simple recipe without dough.

If you sprinkled nuts on the cake before baking, then it no longer requires decoration. Often, a Christmas muffin is wrapped in marzipan or white sugar paste. You can simply sprinkle with a thick layer of powdered sugar. The peculiarity of the English Christmas cake is its unique aroma, so it is ideal to use a special stand with a glass cloche topped, under which the aroma is concentrated.

Overall, English Christmas cake is not difficult to prepare, but it takes time and patience. Soaking the cake even for at least two weeks, inhaling its divine aromas, and not eating a bite is a good ascetic exercise for those who observe the Christmas fast) But the main thing is not to rush - this is the key to success in preparing this Christmas delicacy! In our rapidly revolving and empty, bustling world, we all lack this quality. Take your time, cook with "Mom's Stove" and you will succeed!

Merry Christmas! Happy holiday that inspires our souls!

Ingredients:

For a round shape with a diameter of 20 cm with a side of at least 7-8 cm.

Spicy Fruit Blend:

• raisins 300 gr (100 gr light, brown and black)
• prunes 150 gr
• dried apricots 150 gr
• dried cherries 150 gr
• candied fruits 100 gr
• rum 150 ml
• zest of 1 orange
• zest of 1 lemon
• orange juice + lemon juice 100 ml
• ground cinnamon 1 tsp
• ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp
• ground dry ginger 1/4 tsp
• ground cloves 1/4 tsp

For the test:

• nuts 80 g (any)
• premium wheat flour 200 gr
• butter 150 gr
• brown sugar 150 gr
• eggs 3 pcs
• baking powder 1 tsp

For impregnation:

• dark aged rum 280 ml (4 times 70 ml)

In any glass or ceramic container (volume 2 liters) combine all dried fruits (large to grind), candied fruits, spices, zest, orange and lemon juice, add rum and mix well. Seal, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least two days (up to two weeks is possible). Stir the mixture periodically. When the fruit mixture is ready, start baking the cake.

Sift flour along with baking powder.
Whisk well softened butter with sugar.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well each time.
Add flour with baking powder and nuts, stir until smooth with a spatula.
Add the fruit mixture to the dough and mix well.
Grease the pan with butter and flour (French shirt). If you are using a metal snap cake pan, cover the bottom with baking paper.
Pour the dough into a mold and flatten. You can sprinkle nuts on top for decoration.
Bake in a preheated oven at t 170 ° C for 1.5 hours. If the top starts to burn, cover the tin with foil.

Cool the finished cake a little, remove from the mold and saturate with rum - 70 ml. Brush on the rum: 2 tablespoons top and 1 tbsp. on the ends, let stand 10 minutes, then turn over and apply the remaining 2 tablespoons. to the other side. Cool completely, wrap tightly in foil and leave for 1 day.
In the classic version, the cake is infused for three weeks with impregnation every 5-7 days. But you can shorten the infusion time - the next day, repeat the impregnation, again leaving the cake in the foil for a day. Do this for 4 days in a row, using 70 ml of rum each time.
Sprinkle the icing sugar on the cake before serving.

Wash dried apricots and prunes and cut into pieces.

Mix dried apricots, prunes, raisins, candied fruits and pour brandy for 10 minutes. Thanks to alcohol, not only the perfection of taste and aroma is achieved, it prevents spoilage and drying of the dessert.

Instead of brandy, you can use fruit liqueur, cognac, rum, sherry, madeira. The amount of alcohol is usually calculated according to the following scheme: for 500 g of dried fruit, you need to take half a glass (100 g) of a strong drink.

Put milk, honey, sugar, chopped butter, spices and vanilla sugar in a saucepan. If you wish, you can supplement the spice list with ground cardamom. Heat mixture over low heat until boiling.


Pour fruit and brandy into the hot mixture. Bring to a boil over high heat.


Add baking powder. Mix.


Pour half the flour into the hot mixture. Remember to sift the flour before you work. Everything should be stirred.


Pour in nuts. Cool the dough to a temperature of 36-37 degrees.

Nuts are suitable not only walnuts, but also hazel, peanuts, cashews, almonds, pine nuts. The result will surprise you with its unique taste if the nuts are pre-fried in a dry frying pan or on a baking sheet in the oven.

Add eggs at room temperature to the dough. Mix. It will be better if you add homemade eggs. They have darker yolks, due to which the dough will turn out with a beautiful yellow tint.


Pour in the remaining flour.


Stir the dough with a silicone spatula. Fruits and nuts should be evenly distributed throughout the mass. The dough should be warm, sticky, heavy.


In the mold, line the bottom with parchment paper smeared with a thin layer of oil. Bake the confection for about an hour at a temperature of 170-180 degrees.


Cool the finished cake in a mold and, if time permits, wrap in paper for a couple of hours. This will prevent drying out and preserve the pleasant natural aroma of the dessert.


Decorate your Christmas cupcake with powdered sugar. It will turn out beautifully if you put a stencil with a pattern (for example, in the form of snowflakes) on the surface of the product, sprinkle with powder through a sieve, then remove the stencil. The result is a dark image on a light background. Alternatively, you can pour melted chocolate on the confectionery delicacy, grease with sweet fondant, marzipan, jam.


The pie does not get stale for 5 days, it even tastes better with aging.