Christmas Cake....nothing short of a miracle

My Christmas cake deserves a big round of applause not because of its taste which was truely divine n rich n yummilicious but because as I started making it I felt something could go wrong so bad tat it may go into the trash can & I say this from experience I tried to bake a lovely red velvet cake rather cup cakes.....I was new to baking & was fretting over measurements as in would go back online & recheck if a recipe needed leveled teaspoon or heaped & worry about the outcome if not mentioned or sometimes not even bother making the whole thing....just because of a pinch more of the required contents :D ya that' how it was....

The cup cakes were a disaster......bitter but looked so innocent n pretty!

Lets talk about 2012 Christmas cake. 
The morning when I was supposed to bake my cake I realised I have just 2 eggs so went to the supermarket in the hot sun (by the time I had done some work it was 12 noon) Came back & started by laying all the ingredients on the kitchen work area. I was going to triple the recipe as I needed huge portions of this cake to be shared with family.

So I started by removing the soaked fruits in rum from the fridge....Wow what a heady aroma :)

I had got packets of brown sugar the finest (most expensive) from the supermarket. My eyes widened more...Demerara sugar....and the recipe calls for muscovado! Now how do I pronounce this thing! Neways tried to contact someone....then could not wait for the reply....

I was online..... difference between the sugars?..."what happens when" questions to yahoo were typed frantically!!!!! O K this sugar may be less sweet it said....Ok learning as I go....this somehow got me all pumped up & then there was no looking back....I actually din't follow the recipe...all I remembered was

 the amount of flour = the amount of sugar =/< the amount of oil/ butter!
(same like Sheera/ Kesari)

So I started by grinding together 3 cloves, 3 sticks of cinnamon, grating some nutmeg

I sifted the flour 3 times ( 3 cups of flour, 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder), I sieved through the spice mixture.

Added the soaked fruits & tossed the flour to be sure all the fruits are coated & then separated them to avoid clumping. Then added the chopped cashew nuts & almonds.

Then added the tutti futti

Took about a handful of almonds & cashews about 7 of each, made them into a fine powder added them to the flour & baking powder by again sieving it....

I had read more than 10 Christmas cake recipes & all had useful tips & hints

• If you want a moist cake, grind some portion of the dried fruits soaked in rum into paste & add to mixture....Hmmm was mentally visualizing....naa will be too messy to separate them in the dry flour.

• If you want moist cake add ground almond...ok this advise was not for Christmas cake but had heard Nigella say it...Now you know why I added them by making a powder.

I thought what the hell let me add some coca to the vanilla essence, will give a dark color to the cake!

I opened the pack of Demerara sugar was not granulated nor fine somewhere in between but looked of a good quality :) money well spent!

I started by beating the butter to make it soft (was in room temp)

Slowly started adding the sugar small quantities at a time, nice & creamy consistency & occ scraping from the sides, continued whisking. Added some white castor sugar (remember this sugar was supposed to be less sweet)

The recipe said 100 gm flour & 2 eggs, I had used a small cup as measure of which there were 3 cups of flour so added 5 eggs, again one at a time.....

While whisking the above mixture my heart jumped & popped into my mouth....looked as if I had over done the whisking....was my butter splitting???? (Ghosts of the red velvet cupcake were back in my head!!!)
Continued with a lot of anxiety! My kitchen was suddenly silent!!! I turned down the music....
Frantic prayers to all god'...silent prayer next time I will make without Rum!!! Promise God!!!!

Lesson learnt : Pls whisk the eggs in seperate bowl & add & whisk the mixture gently.

Oops have forgotten the vanilla essence...OMG is this cake going to survive?

Then added this liquid to the flour, gently folding the whole thing....

Greased the pan & dusted it with flour,

I had a huge quantity of batter....out came my star & heart shape moulds.

I was happy with the quantity but scared of the outcome.....(my husband is the only one who had tasted my pretty looking red velvet cup cakes & he can not only down most of my culinary experiments but praise them with the most amazing words but on that fateful day even he could not down the red velvet cup cake....) with those worried thots I put my cake in the pre heated oven at 180 degrees.

The star & heart were done in 20 mins and I promptly removed them when the skewers came out clean...

This cake was huge & I knew I had to keep checking, it took almost 1 hr 20 mins.

The cakes were cooling on the wire rack in their moulds....and I was hoping for the best. Tried breaking a small portion of the cake from the edges & nibbling...hmm cant make out.....

At night close to 4 hours after I had baked the cake....I slowly nudged them out of their moulds.....

They looked good, smelled good....and post dinner we could not resist till the next day so decided to cut the heart shaped cake....

Hold your breath.....Anand putting it in his mouth & still eating.....

Yay!!!! We have a winner!!!
I had the other half....oh I have out done myself!!!!
Pat on the back....& all around self approving head nods!!!!