Once A Year Cake

I am now passing on to you this very special recipe, kindly given to me by Chris, and this wonderful and unusual recipe was given to her by a friend who was born in Bodmin and it was her mother’s recipe, although neither knows where she found it. Chris, who lives in London, believes it is 60+ years old, maybe even more and was named “Once A Year” as it would have been very expensive to make, and I can confirm, a lot of work, especially in the prep and clearing up department! But don’t those layers look stunning? It can be used as a celebration cake as well as a family fruit cake. I left it for my husband to munch through, while away. Chris tells me it is a good keeper.

You will need 5 bowels, butter and line a 8-9” cake tin, although Chris tells me it can be made in a 8” square too. As with your Xmas cake, tie a double layer of thick brown paper around the outside of your tin.

8 oz glace cherries

8 oz almonds, blanched and cut into strips [not flaked]

the grated zest of an orange 

12 oz raisins and currants mixed

8 oz glacé pineapple. see note:

2 oz angelica

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg or Mixed spice

10 oz plain flour

8 oz  softened butter

8 oz caster sugar

6 medium eggs

Basin 1 - place your cherries, halved 

Basin 2 - place your almonds slivers with the orange zest and cinnamon 

Basin 3 - place your raisins and currants, with nutmeg or spice, stir to mix

Basin 4 - place your chopped pineapple and angelica

In a mixing bowl, cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy then add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition, then fold in the flour.

Divide this mixture evenly into the 4 basins  [approx 9 oz each] and fold in.

Spread the cherry layer over the base, cover this with the almond layer, then the raisins and currants layer and finally the pineapple. Level off each layer as best you can without mixing them together. The mix is fairly stiff as each layer is stuffed with fruit!

Bake at 120C for 1 hour, then reduce the temperature to 110C for approx a further 2½ hours. I covered after the first hour. To test, is it firm to the touch? Then by inserting a fine skewer into the cake and if it comes out clean you are there!

Cool in the tin for an hour, then remove. Pierce the base with a fine skewer or needle when cold and sprinkle over 2 tablespoons brandy. Allow to dry for a short while then wrap in parchment and foil and store in a cool dry place until you need to decorate.

Or hang on for a day or so and just eat it!

Notes:

Baking is gas mark 1 for 1 hour then reduce to ½.

Glacé pineapple is not freely available and when it is, very very costly. Of course you could make your own but it takes a month. I used dried pineapple, that I soaked for a few hours in a mix of runny honey and brandy. Seemed to work OK. The angelica was hard to find too so I got it online, but would imagine you could easily get it in a large supermarket.