“There’s no better way to celebrate the end of the year than with this perfect Christmas cake. It’s super simple: you boil everything down, and the native ingredients add so much punch. This is the cake I make every year and people love it. It celebrates our Australian nuts, muntries, quandongs and spices such as pepperberries. It’s really got everything, and it’s the easiest Christmas cake you’re ever going to make,” shares Nornie Bero.
Serves 8-12
WHAT YOU NEED
For the cake
250g butter, plus extra for greasing
100g brown sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup (light treacle)
100g dried cranberries
200g fresh quandongs
75g macadamia nuts, chopped
125ml brandy
200g currants
200g muntries
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon myrtle
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground strawberry gum
1 teaspoon ground pepperberry
1 teaspoon lemon zest
220g plain (all-purpose) flour
50g self-raising flour
1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Strawberry Gum Cream to serve
For the Strawberry Gum Cream
500g thick (double/heavy) cream, or coconut yoghurt
1 teaspoon ground strawberry gum, or you can use lemon myrtle or cinnamon myrtle
60g icing (confectioners’) sugar
WHAT TO DO
For the cake
Preheat the oven to 160C (320 F).
In a large pot, simmer the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, cranberries, quandongs, macadamias, brandy, currants and muntries with 200ml water until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit has softened.
Set aside for 10 minutes to let the mixture cool. Butter a 20–23cm (8–9 in) round cake tin and line with baking paper.
Add the spices and lemon zest to the flours, along with the bicarbonate of soda, and mix in well.
Add the eggs to the cooled fruit mixture, then mix in the spiced flour until well combined. Pour the mix into the prepared cake tin.
Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes. Around the 45-minute mark, place a sheet of aluminium foil on top to make sure the top of your cake does not blacken or dry out.
Serve with strawberry gum cream.
For the strawberry gum
In a large bowl, mix the cream, strawberry gum and sugar together using a hand-held mixer (or use a stand mixer) and whip until thickened.
Be careful not to overmix; this should only take 2 minutes using a machine mixer.
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