Mors Julekage (Mum's Christmas Cake)

Mors julekage © kvalimad.dk

My mother has been baking one of the great classic Christmas cakes for many years. Lots of alcohol and dried fruit. It’s a classic plum cake. It’s not for everyone, but I love it and my dear wife is completely hooked on it. So here’s the recipe as my mother wrote it down for me.

Ingredients

  • can be split into 2 cakes
  • 250 g butter
  • 250 g flour
  • 250 g dark brown sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 100 g chopped candied orange peel — not fresh orange peel but the preserved kind
  • 150 g raisins and currants
  • 150 g dried fruit of your choice
  • 80% rum … Stroh rum — it MUST be this, regular rum won’t do

vanilla and lemon zest

Directions

Soak the fruit in rum for a few hours (at least one hour).

Soften the butter and mix with the flour.

Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.

Mix with the butter and flour.

Gently fold the remaining ingredients into the batter.

Pour the batter into a well-greased springform pan.

Bake at 355°F (180°C) for 30–40 minutes.

Brush the cooled cake with a good orange marmalade or apricot jam if you prefer — or if that’s what you have on hand.

Then cover the cake with rolled-out marzipan.

Notes

Once cooled, I cut it through so it makes 2 cakes, as I find it too dense otherwise.

One of them can be frozen.

It only gets better after sitting for a few days before eating.