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Christmas cake is a bit like marmite. You either love it or you hate it (and it’s a similar colour). Christmas pudding is the same as well. Personally, I hate both. My dad, on the other hand, loves it. This made it tricky at Christmas when I lived with him. We often couldn’t agree on a dessert as buying a Christmas pudding or Christmas cake would be a waste for one person.
This problem persisted even after I moved out, until 2 years ago when I bought Jamie Oliver’s Christmas cookbook. In this, he has an amazing recipe for an amazing chocolate and orange layered marzipan cake. There is literally everything you could think of and tons of things that you would have never thought of. This is a seriously good buy, and I cannot recommend it enough. You can take a closer look at the book here.
I had my doubts about this as I’m not a big lover of marzipan either, but it looked too delicious to not try.
Don’t forget to write all your ingredients down on the shopping list included in my free ultimate Christmas planner to ensure you get everything planned and organised for your stress-free holiday. Over 15 free pages with everything, you need to organise and plan your holiday season.
The Best Alternative Christmas Cake.
Serves 16
Takes approx 1 hour + 10 minutes (although mine always about 2 hours)
Ingredients
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225g Unsalted butter
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300g Golden marzipan (if it’s slightly warm it works better in the recipe)
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100ml Single Cream
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225g Golden Caster Sugar
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10 Eggs (I know it’s a lot, I was surprised as well!)
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1/2 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste
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1 Orange
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150g Self-raising flour
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100g Cornflour
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150g Orange Marmalade
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25ml Whiskey
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300g Quality Dark Chocolate
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40g Candied Orange Peel
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Preheat the grill to medium-high.
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Grease a loose-bottomed cake tin + line with greaseproof paper.
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Chop the marzipan and mix in a food processor with the cream (I always need to use more cream than listed in the ingredients. Start with the 100ml and see how you go), 175g of butter and the sugar until creamy.
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I always have to do this in 2-3 batches, otherwise, the marzipan doesn’t cream properly. It’s better f the marzipan is softer when you try to do this.
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Separate the eggs and beat into the mixtures one at a time. Then add the bean paste and the grated zest of the orange.
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sift both the cornflour and the self-raising and fold into the mixture.
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whisk the egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt. Gently fold into the cake mixture.
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Melt the marmalade over the hob with the whiskey. Then Melt 100g of chocolate and 25g butter in a separate bowl. These will make up the filling between layers.
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Spoon enough mixture to thinly cover the bottom of the cake tin.
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Cook under the grill for 3-4 minutes until set. If you don’t, your layers will just all merge into one lump (still tasty, not so pretty).
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Gently spread either the melted chocolate or marmalade mixture onto the set cake mixture.
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Repeat the previous two steps until the mixture is gone. You will find that as your layers build, you will need less cooking time under the grill.
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Let your cake cool and then cover with clingfilm to chill for a few hours, or until the day you want to serve and eat it!
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Remove the cake from chilling a couple of hours before you want to serve.
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Melt the remaining chocolate and butter. Once glossy leave it to cool for 5 minutes.
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Remove the cake from the cake tin and place on a serving plate or cake board.
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Pour the chocolate over the cake and gently spread over the entire top allowing to drizzle down the sides.
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Leave to set somewhere that isn’t the fridge.
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Once set, decorate with the candied orange peel.
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Serve and slice to see your amazing layered cake. It really is a bit of a showpiece to cut at the dinner table.
What to serve it with?
This is great served with some cream. The cake isn’t overly sweet or sickly like you might expect it to be, which is dangerous as you can eat quite a lot of it.
This proved to be a big hit as a Christmas cake the first year I made it, with Christmas pudding and Christmas cake lovers as well. Another bonus is that you can’t really taste the marzipan strongly at all!
If you’re feeling in the crafty, homemade Christmas vibe, be sure to check out these other helpful posts.
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Handmade Christmas cards | Essential Items to Make Them and Places to Buy Them.
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10 Easy Homemade Christmas Decoration Ideas your kids can help with.
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9 Edible Christmas Gift Ideas.
Do you think you’ll try this alternative to Christmas cake? I guarantee you won’t regret it. Get all the other incredible and tasty recipes here.
Keep this post for later to bake a delicious Christmas treat using an image from below.