A great alternative to the traditional Christmas Cake from Castlewood House. This Clementine Christmas Cake is sure to please all and is simple and easy to prepare. Serve with lightly whipped cream and enjoy!
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease the sides of a 20cm cake tin with sunflower oil and line the base with a disc of baking parchment.
2. Place the sugar in a bowl and mix together with the ground almonds, breadcrumbs and baking powder.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sunflower oil and clementine zest.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the breadcrumb mixture and stir everything together until they are thoroughly mixed and tip the batter into the prepared tin.
5. Bake on a lower shelf in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until lightly springy in the centre, golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
6. As the cake cooks, peel two of the clementines and slice crossways into rounds about 5mm thick.
For the syrup:
1. Place the caster sugar and clementine juice in a saucepan and set over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
2. Bring to the boil and allow the mixture to boil, without stirring it, for 3 minutes or until slightly syrupy.
3. Remove from the heat and set aside.
When the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and let it sit in the tin for 10 minutes.
Loosening around the edges using a small, sharp knife, carefully remove the cake from the tin and transfer to a serving plate.
Arrange the clementine slices over the top, then reheat the syrup slightly and pour it over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.
