Christmas Recipe: How to make a Spiced Ginger Christmas Cake

Get ready for a festive favourite with a twist – Christmas cake spiced with Opies Stem Ginger in Syrup here’s the exact recipe and ingredients you need.

Opies kindly sent us this recipe.

200g Opies Crystallised Stem Ginger, roughly chopped
50g Opies Cocktail Cherries, roughly chopped
280g Opies Stem Ginger in Syrup
200g Currants
75ml Ginger Wine, plus extra for ‘feeding’
200g Unsalted Butter, softened
200g Dark Muscovado Sugar
3 medium free-range Eggs
250g Self-Raising flour
1 tbsp Ground Mixed Spice

TESCO GROCERIES: SHOP INGREDIENTS

For the Marzipan layer:
20g reserved Stem Ginger Syrup
500g Marzipan

For the Royal Icing layer:
500g Icing Sugar
3 Egg Whites
Juice of ½ a Lemon
1 teaspoon Glycerine

1 – Place the Opies Crystallised Ginger, Opies Cocktail Cherries, currants, and ginger wine into a bowl. Cover and soak for 2 hours (ideally overnight).

2 – Grease a 15cm cake tin and line with baking paper. Pre heat the oven to 150°C (140°C fan).

3 – Pour 20g of the syrup from Opies Stem Ginger and set aside. Place the rest of the jar (syrup and ginger pieces) into a food processor and whizz to make a puree.

4 – In a large bowl, cream together the unsalted butter with the dark muscovado sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk the eggs together and add to the mixture a tablespoon at a time, beating well in between.

6 – Gently fold the flour, mixed spice, soaked fruit, and pureed stem ginger into the butter and egg mixture. Scoop the mix into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Wrap the tin in a couple of sheets of newspaper and place a slim wad of newspaper on the shelf of the oven shelf to sit the cake on. Bake for 2 hours.

7 – Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

8 – To ice: Brush a thin layer of reserved ginger syrup over the cake. Roll out the marzipan to ½ cm thick and lay over the cake. Trim the edges and leave to set for a few hours.

9 – Place the icing sugar, egg whites, lemon juice, and glycerine into a large bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Cover the cake in icing ensuring it is spread evenly and use a palette knife to create some peaks.

Hints and Tips: This cake can be made last minute and still be full of flavour.

Where to Buy:
Opies’ Crystallised Ginger is available from Tesco for £2.45
Opies’ Stem Ginger in Syrup is available from Tesco 350g for £2.60