Mini Gold Christmas Loaves
Billington’s Mini Gold Christmas Loaves
serves 6
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
200ml sunflower oil
175g ground almond
200g Billington’s light Muscovado sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
4 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
50g dry cranberries
50g Billington’s glace cherries
2 tbsp Amaretto liquor
For the decorations:
100g of sieved apricot preserve
1 orange zest cut in fine strips
50g caster sugar
50ml water
25g granulated sugar
24-carat Gold leaves
Method:
The night before
Chop the cherries in quarter and soak overnight in the Amaretto.
On the day
Preheat the oven to 180c(fan 160) 350F/gas mark 4.grease and line six mini loaf tins.
Combine the ground almond, Billington’s light Muscovado sugar, cinnamon and baking powder in a mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly. Break in the eggs, add the oil and mix gently together.
Using a fine grater, grate the zest from the lemon and the orange then add the cranberries and soaked glace cherries.
Turn the cake mixture into the tins - filling them 3/4 high and bake in the preheated oven for 30min or when the knife comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
In a small saucepan take the caster sugar and water to the boil then reduce the heat to get a slight simmer and plunge the fine orange strips. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes then switch off the heat and leave the orange strips to cool down in the syrup.
Heat the apricot preserve and use to brush the top and side of the cool mini loaves. Take the confit orange strips and roll them into the golden granulated sugar.
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