Who has a love hate relationship with Christmas cake? Some love it, some love it only a little bit at Christmas because your Granny made it... According to Love Food Hate Waste, Cake was another thing found in rubbish bins that they were surprised to see. Kiwis throw away 1,787 tonnes of cake every year!

I bet there is Christmas cake in those statistics, (even though it lasts for ages, unlike other cakes, so freeze it if you are not going to eat it all).  

This recipe is for an un-iced Christmas Cake.  I’m not a Christmas Cake fan but I found this irresistibly mouth watering and certainly won’t be throwing any of it out!You can freeze Christmas cake, so if you have oodles, freeze it then perhaps make this for a mid-winter Christmas Party!

You will need

Bowl

Whisk

Grease a medium size baking dish with butter, a dish with a lid is handy,

otherwise use tin foil (recycled, if you can)

Ingredients 

500g to 1kg of Christmas Cake, without icing, cut into slices.

I had a rectangular Christmas cake, and I cut it in half lengthwise then into triangles.

½ cup of bandy or more, depending how boozy you want it!

(omit if you want children to eat it, orange juice would work well)

4 eggs and another 2 egg yolks.

 You can freeze your egg whites, pour into ice trays then transfer in freezable bags, label and use within 3 months.

60 grams of caster sugar 

250ml of milk

350ml of cream

Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to bake 180’C 

Place the cut Christmas Cake into the prepared dish, snugly fitting it all in, you may have two layers.

Pour the brandy over and soak for 15 minutes or overnight for a jolly strong brandy flavour.

Whisk the eggs, yolks and caster sugar together, then add the milk and cream, mix then pour over the cake.

Wait for about 5 minutes for it to settle.

Pop in the oven for 20 minutes, or until tops are browned.  

Take it out, cover it with tin foil (recycled, if you can) and put back in the oven for another 20 minutes, you are making a custard as such, and it should be set.

Remove from the oven and dust it with icing sugar.

Serve warm with some whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream, or brandy butter if there is any left!.

CHEAT TIP  - if you really don’t want to make custard you can use shop bought. If something is quick and easy you are less likely to throw out the food.