Christmas baking for 2018

Hi I always make my Christmas cake now. Does anyone else do?
I've had this tin since i was 11years old when i started cooking at school.

I lined it with greeseproof paper 6 times and brushed it with melted marg in between each time. Always make it higher than the tin.

Then i wrap a lot of news paper around it. To stop it from browning too much.

Here's the mixture

Here it is, it took 6 hours to bake.

 

Nice work!

Not at this time of year, no.

I was brought up with the tradition that Christmas cakes are baked at Easter time (and, for fuel economy, baked at the same time as Simnel Cake; both requiring a low oven and length of cooking times). The primary reason was that hens were in the full swing of laying so eggs were in abundance and therefore, cheaper Of course, in our modern world, where hens are farmed to lay eggs all year round, it is no longer relevant. Nonetheless, because I keep hens, that tradition is still worth preserving because nothing, absolutely *nothing* beats eggs from garden hens

In addition, just as with yours which is baked now, a good Christmas cake needs time to mature and requires "feeding" (in the form of alcohol) for the sake of preserving the cake. Likewise, I still use ingredients in mine which doesn't see the light of day in modern recipes but which give the cake a real punch of flavour.

How do you choose to store it?

 

@"M" I'd love to keep chickens, how often do they need cleaning out?

I cover the cake with clingfilm then put it in a air tight container. About once a week i'll make holes in it with a fondue stick and drip the fortified wine in it.

What ingredients do you put in yours?

 

That would depend on how many chickens and the area they are kept in
I have an Omlet Cube for my girls so, at this time of year, the "drip tray", egg laying area, Grub and Glug are given a good clean each week. It is on paving slabs and that is thickly covered with bark chippings which are turned daily (quick flick around with a hoe) and then refreshed every four to six weeks, with the paving being given a good hose down and disinfect. When the weather warms up, they will spend most of their time free ranging, so the need to clean the paving frequently isn't so high.

When I first started with hen keeping I only had the one and she was housed in an Omlet Eglu; less hens = less mess = less cleaning but consequently less eggs.

As for the cake ingredients well, the special ones I'm sworn to secrecy over

 

Thanks for the information, it's a lot of work.

 

I can see why you would think so; it does sound that way when it's written down, but, it really isn't as much work as it sounds.
Hens also make great "pets" and are friendly things, each with their own personalities and preferences.

 

I suppose really it isn't. If i had any they would have to be on the grass,nowhere else to put them. It would be nice, probably have 2 hens. Would i need a cockerel? What is a omlet cube and omlet eglu.

 

My parents had hens lovely birds with lots of character, as M says make lovely pets, one of the two we had when i was a kid was like a dog it followed my mum everywhere, they was free to roam no garden fence/gate but they was put secure at night we didn't want the fox getting them,

When the fletchers bread van came round and rang its chimes it ran to the van, it had learned it would get some freebies, the bread man always had something for it,

It was quite comical looking back, people cuing up for there bread and a hen standing in the cue waiting for a few crumbs good old times .

 

Google Omlet and it will take you to their website and you can see what they are like. They are not the cheapest option, by far (!), but I knew mine wouldn't be a flash in the pan fad so I didn't mind investing in them. They hold their value quite well when it comes to selling on second hand too.

No, no cockerel needed unless you wanted fertilized eggs for breeding (and deaf neighbours! )
Two is a good number; one really isn't quite so good as they are social beings.
Grass is good, but, you would need to have double the space of one run so that you could move it when the grass looks a little bare (it does recover) and to prevent a build up of nasties.

@martin-f - the image of the "Fletchers" hen is priceless!! When it comes to food and tidbits, hens are nobody's fool When I had my first trio it was quite a sight to see them come charging at such a pace when they heard the lid being popped on a tub of mealworms

Wonder how @Linz is getting on with hers?

 

Wow I thought I was on a thread from October last year for a second! I'm only just getting over Christmas I don't want to think about it for another few months at least cake looks yummy though

Oh you won't regret getting chickens @Logan they are fab! I started out with 2 and a small coop with a run attached. The run was ok for 2 smaller breeds but a few months later one of the chooks died and I ended up getting another 3 so I got a walk in cage (3mx2m £160 bid off ebay) and they have been more than happy to roam around in there over winter. Bit like @"M"'s, my run is on a patio and I have been putting a thick layer of dengie bedding in so the floor is not too hard on their feet. I do plan to move it up on the grass but I'll lose a lot of lawn as my garden is not huge.. soo we'll see what happens!

It does sound like a lot of work written down but they are pretty easy I've found (minus the heartache of losing Heather feather.)

The girls are doing well @"M" thank you Cruella started laying beginning of the month and was doing well but has now stopped.. not sure if it's weather related How are your girls doing? Ooh bit of news too! I'm picking up 2 ex batts on 10th March

 

Just found this from last year.. just after being cleaned out so it looks rather pristine

 

Your set up looks great
Go Cruella!! Don't worry that she appears to have stopped, doubt it is the weather because she has already started. Just remember, each successive year they lay less and less. Mine came back into lay last weekend; thought only one, but now suspect it could be the two wyandotte bantams looking at the size of the eggs plus the number I have had so far.
Eggcellent news about the ex-batts! Don't forget to post some photos!

Good to see you posting

 

Oh lovely Lots of baking going on then? Aww Good to be posting again! Have had a bit of break (had a new game for Christmas and got a bit addicted to xbox whoops! ) slowly picking it back up though

 

I'll have to think about it, got to convince hubby. We do seem to be having more eggs lately. It sounds nice having hens, but we do get foxes round here. Never get into the garden though. I know that the hens will be put away at night.