Years ago I used to make my annual Christmas cake just after Halloween, wrap it in rum-soaked cheesecloth and (with frequent re-soakings) let it sit in a cool cupboard until the big day. It was a very dark and dense cake, baked in a bundt pan. No icky candied fruit for me, I always used dried fruit (apricots, raisins, currants, dates) and freshly chopped nuts (pecans, almonds, hazelnuts), so that in the end the actual cake batter was just barely holding all the fruit & nuts together.  It was best served very thinly sliced and was also good with a slice of very sharp old cheddar cheese on top.

It’s many years now since I made one of these fabulous cakes, but I was reminded of them yesterday when my dear friend Lizzie sent me a Christmas cake recipe that looks quite fun to make, especially as I could also practice being a pirate (ho ho ho and a bottle of rum) …

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