Christmas cake with cognac
Description
For the dough you can use whole‑grain, oat, or white wheat flour. I use a blend of two flours, oat and wheat. Decorate the finished cake as you wish. Instead of chocolate and berries you can use a glaze made from powdered sugar and lemon juice, a meringue or chocolate cream, or simply dust the cake with powdered sugar. Any nuts, seeds, and pitted dried fruit work well as a filling. Serve warm or chilled. Perfect with tea.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients.
- 2
Step 2
Remove the pits from the dates, then cut the dates and dried apricots into small pieces.
- 3
Step 3
Add raisins and seeds. Pour brandy over everything and let it sit for 1–2 hours.
- 4
Step 4
Prepare the dough. Beat the eggs with sugar and salt until foamy.
- 5
Step 5
Add the softened butter and mix everything together.
- 6
Step 6
Add the flour with the leavening agent.
- 7
Step 7
Add the ground spices and mix everything together.
- 8
Step 8
Transfer the dried fruits onto a sieve. Keep the brandy that drips for soaking the cake. Add the brandy‑soaked dried fruits to the batter and mix everything together.
- 9
Step 9
Transfer the dough with the fillings to a baking dish and place it in the preheated oven. Bake for about 35 minutes at 180 °C. Check doneness with a wooden skewer.
- 10
Step 10
Let the finished cake cool, remove it from the pan and soak it with the cognac that remained after soaking the dried fruits. Wrap the cake in baking paper and let it rest for 10-12 hours.
- 11
Step 11
Before serving, garnish the cake with melted chocolate, berries, and mint leaves.