How are your Christmas preparations going? Why not add this Honey Macadamia Christmas Cake to your Christmas baking.
I am still in the kitchen cooking! This year I was looking for an elegant yet simple Christmas Cake for my family celebrations. I am a little bit over the traditional dark cakes.
This year, I wanted something with a spark of flavour, made with ingredients that are a little more Australian. I found a recipe for a blonde fruitcake and have adapted it using macadamia instead of the more traditional almond, and glace ginger from Buderim in Queensland.
As with all my recipes it quick and simple and made in one pot. The flavours don’t need long to develop so this is a great last minute Christmas cake. I have made them in individual serves to give as gifts, but you could also make one large cake.
Ingredients
- 250 g dried apricots chopped
- 200 g dried pears chopped
- 50 g sultanas
- 1/3 cup chopped glace ginger
- 440 g can crushed pineapple undrained
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 125 g Butter
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2/3 cup macadamia nuts chopped
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 cup self raising flour
- 1 cup plain flour
- Topping
- 2/3 cup macadamia nut
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 20 g Butter extra, melted
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
- Combine chopped dried fruits, ginger, pineapple, sugar and spices in the saucepan and bring to the boil stirring occasionally.
- Simmer for 5 minutes
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the chopped macadamia nuts and bicarbonate of soda. Allow to cool.
- Line the sides and base of 8 x 1 small spring form tins, or muffin tray with baking paper or liners.
- Stir eggs and flours into fruit mixture and spoon into the moulds
- Bake at 160°C for 45-50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer
- Combine remaining macadamia nuts, honey and butter and spoon over each cake. Return to the oven and bake for a further 8-10 minutes or until nuts are golden.
- Cool in the baking tin.
You see this is a very simple Christmas Cake recipe. I also used some reserved pineapple tins as baking moulds and lined them with baking paper.
To decorate I wrapped a thick ribbon around the cake so I could gift the Christmas cake. Even Mr GG thought this was a clever idea.
I hope you are enjoying the lead up to Christmas. My next story will be a Christmas Cocktail. I have been trialling some “recipes” so I can share the perfect Christmas drink with readers.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing… I might have failed my “Responsible Service of Alcohol” guidelines while I was trialling mixes (resulting in a persistent headache for yours truly), but I have managed to come up with a simple, yet festive cocktail.