Eunice Power - Alternative Christmas Cakes

I am really fond of making Christmas cakes and look forward to making them each year. There is something immensely comforting about the aroma of warm spices in the kitchen while the cake is baking. I have lovely childhood memories of helping my mum decorate the Christmas cake.

Steeped in such yuletide nostalgia, I recently asked my eldest son (14) if he had any special memories of Christmas baking and food, involving me, needless to say. He thought for a while and replied “Nah!” I am hoping his response says more about the modern teenager than my merit as a mother.

Could it be that I have over-exposed my children to the whole ritual and rarity of preparing seasonal food, causing their memories of that warm fuzziness to blank? And when is it too late to start manufacturing memories for one’s children? All these questions are playing on my mind as I frantically type!

Personally I love traditional Christmas cake but not everybody feels the same about it. My children favour chocolate cake – even though they don’t seem to remember the art of making or decorating it!

How you decide to decorate your Christmas cake makes all the difference between something ordinary and a festive, show-stopping spectacle. I recently saw a cake which had battery operated LED lights embedded in the icing – the mind boggles. For the purists among you, my traditional Christmas cake recipe is available on www.irishtimes.com

Chocolate Fudge Cake

I am often asked for a foolproof chocolate recipe and here it is. This ticks all the boxes - moist, great flavour, and easy to make.

For the cake

2oz/50g cocoa powder
4oz/110g butter
4floz/110ml oil
8floz/225ml water
12oz/350g sugar
8oz/225g self-raising flour
2 eggs
4 floz/110ml milk
½ teaspoon bread soda

Chocolate Swiss Meringue

9 egg whites
600g granulated sugar
600g butter, softened but cool
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
330g melted chocolate (I use 55% cocoa)

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2

Grease and line an 8inch/20cm cake tin with parchment paper.

Put the cocoa, butter, oil and water into a wide saucepan and bring it to the boil.

Remove from the heat and then stir in the sugar and flour. Beat together the eggs with the milk and bread soda and then add this mixture to the saucepan.

Pour this into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1¼ hours

Allow the cake to cool and then turn it out onto a wire tray and allow to cool for a few hours

Meanwhile make the Swiss meringue...

Place the egg whites and sugar in a large metal or glass bowl. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water, and whisk, continuously, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture looks opaque.

Remove the bowl from the heat, add vanilla extract, and whip on high speed until completely cooled.

Whip in the butter, a tablespoon at a time, until thick and fluffy. If it begins to look curdled, continue to whip until it comes back together, before adding in remaining butter.

Fold in the melted chocolate.

If the egg whites and/or the butter are slightly too warm, the buttercream may not thicken properly. This can be easily remedied by placing it in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, then whipping.

To assemble

Divide the cake into three evenly sized layers. Line an 8 inch tin with cling film, place one layer of cake in the bottom of the tin, spread a thick layer of the icing over this layer, put the second layer of cake on top and repeat with the icing, and put the final layer on top of this. Cover with the cling film and pop into the fridge for 30 minutes to set.

Remove from the fridge, take out of the tin and remove the cling film. Cover the cake with a thin coating of icing then using a ruffle nozzle, pipe the icing on the sides of the cake.

Once the cake is decorated put in the fridge for 3 minutes or so to set.

Decorate with Meringue mushrooms. This cake will keep for at least a week.

Meringue mushrooms

These are a cinch to make.
Makes 12

2 large egg whites – older ones are better
150g castor sugar
Teaspoon of cocoa powder
100g plain chocolate

Pre heat the oven to 130ºC. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a clean dry bowl, preferable stainless steel or glass, whisk the egg whites and sugar together at full speed until the mixture forms stiff dry peaks – this will take 8-10 minutes.

Put a round nozzle about 10mm wide on a piping bag and fill the bag with the meringue mixture. For the stems, press out a tiny bit of meringue onto one of the trays, then pull the bag straight up. Do not worry about making all of the pieces exactly the same. The mushrooms will look more natural if the pieces are different sizes.

To pipe the mushroom caps: squeeze out round mounds of meringue onto the other baking tray. Pull the bag off to the side to avoid making peaks on the top. Place the cocoa powder in a fine-mesh sieve and lightly dust it over the stems and caps then blow on the cocoa powder vigorously to blur it and give the mushrooms a realistic look. Bake for 1 hour and then turn off the oven, allowing the meringues to cool in the oven.

When cooled the stems are attached to the caps using a little melted chocolate to 'glue' them together. The stems may need to be trimmed so use a sharp knife to cut the tip off each stem to create a flat surface.

Photography: Shane O Neill www.aspectphotography.net
Food Styling: Leona Humphreys www.onefineplate.com
 

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More recipes from Eunice Power are available on www.eunicepower.com

Room reservations can be made on www.powersfield.com - hope to see you in Dungarvan during the year.

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Eunice Power is a professional chef with over twenty years experience in the hospitality business. She runs Powersfield House in Dungarvan County Waterford, which is our B&B of the Year for 2012 and also the winner of the Best B&B Breakfast. Her philosophy is to use fresh, seasonal, locally produced food, sourced organically where possible. 

Eunice has a successful outside catering company, writes about food (she is the author of an excellent cookery book written for local company Waterford Stanley) and teaches at Paul Flynn’s Tannery Cooking School, where her enthusiasm and zest for a life filled with good food are given free rein."