It’s Christmas! This year Tom, our founder, incorporated Ovant Royal into his family’s hundred year old Christmas Cake recipe, creating a contemporary take on a traditional classic. It’s perfectly accompanied by the Christmas Martini collection created by Christopher, our co-founder and saporist.

“My Mum gave me this recipe the first time I had Christmas away from home. She made it every year when we were kids. She passed it on to me from my Grandma and  it goes back as least as far as my Great Great Grandmother who included a fair amount of brandy in the recipe! I’ve substituted the brandy for Ovant Royal to produce a beautifully rich flavour with an emphasis on cinnamon and spice.”

- Tom Streitberg, Founder, Ovant

Christmas Cake

This is a very traditional recipe. It is not as dark or as dense as modern Christmas Cakes. It is a little lighter in colour and has a buttery texture with a lovely fine crumb. It should be made a few weeks before Christmas. Once baked, the cake improves with time. Store it wrapped in cloth or aluminium foil in the fridge, and every few days sprinkle a little extra Ovant Royal over the top of the cake to keep it moist. Serve with fresh cherries and custard after Christmas lunch.

INGREDIENTS

250g Raisins
250g Glacé cherries
125g Blanched almonds
250g Sultanas
250g Currants
125g Chopped/mixed peel
1¼ cups Ovant Royal
300g Plain flour
60g Self raising flour
¼ tsp Salt
1 tsp Mixed spice
250g Butter
250g Light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 tbsp Jam (dark berry is best)
2 tsp Vanilla essence


TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

20 cm Spring form cake tin
(lined on the bottom and sides with baking paper)
Two large mixing bowls
Electric mixer
Sieve


TECHNIQUE

Prepare the fruit the day before baking. Roughly chop the raisins, glacé cherries and blanched almonds and then toss them with the remaining fruit in one of the mixing bowls. Add 1 cup of Ovant Royal to the fruit mixture and stir thoroughly. Cover with cling film and leave overnight in the fridge.

On the day of baking, preheat the oven to 150C and line the base and sides of the 20cm spring form cake tin with two layers of baking paper, ensuring the side lining extends at least 2cms above the top of the tin.

Sift the flour, salt and mixed spice together into a clean mixing bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer on a medium speed until they have a smooth, even consistency and then add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Once the butter, sugar and eggs are well combined reduce the speed on the mixer to slow and gradually add the flour mixture and the fruit to the mixing bowl, allowing the flour mixture and fruit mixture to mix completely. Continue this until all the flour mixture and fruit mixture have been added and thoroughly combined.

With the mixer still on slow add ¼ cup of Ovant Royal, the jam and the vanilla essence to the mixing bowl and continue to mix until thoroughly combined.

Once combined, place the mixture in the prepared cake tin and place in the oven for two hours. After 2 hours place a layer of aluminium foil over the top of the cake and cook for a further one hour. Continue to cook until the cake tests clean in the centre with a metal skewer, approximately 3½ hours in total. 

Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the cake tin for one hour, then remove from tin and allow to cool on a rack. Sprinkle the top with Ovant Royal and wrap in aluminium foil and store in the fridge. Every 2–3 days carefully unwrap the cake and sprinkle a little more Ovant Royal on the top to keep it moist and allow the flavours to develop.

On Christmas day, remove the cake from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature before serving with fresh cherries and custard.


Merry Christmas!