Baking for the Holidays

T’is the season to get cosy but have you started thinking about your holiday baking yet? It’s time to dust off the rolling pins, unearth the favourite cookie cutters, and pull out the sprinkles. Colourful treats with a cup of hot chocolate are one thing we look forward to most in the coldest days of winter. Bake these delicious treats with your loved ones or bake them to gift to your friends and family. After all, the holidays are about spending time with those you love and spreading joy.

Boozy Christmas Cake

This Boozy Christmas Cake is amazing. It’s a sweet rum cake filled with tutti frutti, golden raisins, pistachios and dates. There are also spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and all spice powder to make it more flavourful to enjoy all holiday season. This dessert is moist, rich and oh so fruity. It’s what every holiday cake should taste like.

It takes a while to infuse the alcohol so prepare well in advance but it’s well worth it! Bake this festive cake a few weeks before Christmas and feed it regularly with rum, brandy or whisky to build the flavour and keep it moist.

Ingredients:
Soaking dry fruits: 
100g Raisins 
150g Pitted dates 
100g Dried apricots 
100g Crystallized ginger 
125g Candied orange 
100g Tutti frutti 
180ml Dark rum/Whiskey/Brandy

Cake:

275g All-purpose flour

275g Softened butter

275g Brown sugar

40g Chopped pistachio

40g Chopped cashew

75g Almond powder

5 Eggs

¼ tsp Nutmeg powder

¼ tsp Cinnamon powder

¼ tsp All spice powder

Zest of one orange

Instructions:

Soaking dry fruits: Take a clean airtight glass jar. Chop all the dried fruits mentioned above coarsely and add them to the jar. Add in the alcohol of your choice. Close the lid of the jar and shake it a few times to mix the dry fruits with the alcohol. Let it rest in a cool and dark place. The more days you let the dry fruits soak in alcohol, the more boozy the cake will be.

Note: Give the jar a mild shake every couple of days.

Baking the cake: In a clean bowl, add in the butter and whisk it well to make it creamy. Add in the brown sugar and mix well until the sugar dissolves. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well before adding the next one. Once the butter, sugar and eggs are well combined, add in the almond powder, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder, all spice powder, and orange zest. Mix well. Add all-purpose flour in batches and mix well. Add the chopped cashew, pistachio and soaked dried fruits.

Fill in a well-greased tin with parchment paper and bake it in a preheated oven at 150˚C for 2-3 hours. Check the cake after 2 hours, as every oven is unique. Use a skewer to see the doneness of the cake. Once, an inserted skewer comes out clean, take out the cake tin from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 5 hours.

Feeding the cake: For more enhanced taste, poke holes in the cake and feed in a spoon of rum, brandy or whiskey once a week.

Note: Christmas cake can be made well in advance, up to one month. The longer you let the cake soak in the rum or brandy, the more flavour it will have.

Hot Chocolate

What’s better than a mug of hot chocolate on a cold, wintery day? The warmth of a good ol’ cup of hot chocolate, topped with whipped cream, marshmallows, grated chocolate is so satisfying! It doesn’t get better than that!

This hot chocolate recipe is made with simple, wholesome ingredients. It’s rich and complex, but not so decadent that I can’t finish the cup.

As a bonus, this creamy hot chocolate recipe is easy to make dairy-free or vegan, if desired. Just use any vegan milk and vegan chocolate in the recipe.

Ingredients:
3300ml Milk
10g Sugar
70g Chocolate (70%)
Few drops vanilla essence
1 Cinnamon stick
5g Cocoa powder 
A pinch of salt 
2 to 3 Marshmallows

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 230˚C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place two marshmallows on it. Bake the marshmallows for 3 minutes. Once the tops get slightly brown in color, take out of the oven and let them cool.

Chop the chocolates. Take a clean pan. Add in the milk to the pan along with the cinnamon piece and the vanilla essence. Heat the milk on low heat for 8 minutes. Remove the cinnamon from the milk after 8 minutes and continue cooking the milk on low heat. Add the cocoa powder to the milk. Stir until well combined. Add the salt and sugar and chopped chocolate. The milk mixture will turn thick and velvety in texture. Your hot chocolate is ready! Transfer the hot chocolate to your favourite mug and top it with the baked marshmallow. Play some Christmas music and enjoy your drink!