20 December 2011

Taste The Difference – Christmas Cake Baking Kit (Sainsbury’s) [By @Cinabar]


I used to bake a fair amount of cakes, but in recent years have done less and less. I can’t remember the last time I actually made a fruit cake, but with the help of this new kit, thought I’d give it a go this year. I enlisted my mum in to help, just in case. I know it may seem a little late to be making a Christmas cake, but there is still nearly a week before the big day.
Inside the kit are all the dry ingredients you need, including spices, brown sugar, flour, dried fruit soaked in Armagnac and Marcona almonds. The only fresh ingredients required were butter, a lemon and 3 eggs which were easily picked up. We eagerly pre-heated the oven and greased and lined an 8” cake tin in preparation.
One of the things I loved about the pack is that everything is pre-weighed for you which is certainly a bonus. As the packet of butter had measurements on the pack, it meant that I didn’t have to use the kitchen scales at all for the cake, which must be a baking first for me. My mum is the kind of cook who somehow just knows how much of an ingredient to add, but I meticulously measure everything. We followed the simple instructions and I creamed the butter and sugar together, mixed in the eggs, and then folded in all the other ingredients. I was quite shocked by just how much fruit there was, and rather impressed by its wonderful aroma as the kitchen started to smell Christmassy. It took quite a bit of folding to get an even mix on the ingredients, but I knew the work would be worth it. When we were sure it was all mixed, we spooned it into the tin, pressing it down gently to make sure the tin was full in every corner and topped it with some more grease proof paper (as per the instructions). We placed it in the oven, and filled the 3h30mins baking time wrapping Christmas prezzies and writing cards.
Once it was done, we eased it out of the tin, and peeled away the greaseproof paper. I can’t tell you how proud we were of the results, once the waiting was finally overly. The cake looked amazing and beautiful, and I desperately wanted to cut into there and then and serve it with a mug of seasonal tea. I will have to wait though – and make some effort at icing the beauty! The Christmas Cake Baking Kit from Sainsbury’s works like a dream, and I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed making it too. I never expected the cake to look so tempting, the results could not have been better!
By Cinabar



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UPDATED - THE FINISHED ARTICLE:


2 comments:

krnries said...

These cake baking kits seem to have appeared in all the supermarkets this year. Have you seen the stollen kit? I saw one in Morrisons.

cinabar said...

Mental note - Stollen next year!!! ;-)