This recipe uses Fair Trade ingredients and can be found in the Fairworld Cookbook, published by Oxfam and Cassell, priced £7.99. Fair Trade means that the people who actually grow and produce our food get a fair return for their work.

Christmas Cake is traditionally served on Christmas Day. It is often made weeks in advance of being eaten, so that the cake matures and has a richer taste.

Ingredients (serves 6-10 people)

225g (8oz) Fair Trade organic sultanas
175g (6oz) currants
100g (4oz) glacé cherries, rinsed and dried
125-250g (2-4 fluid oz) brandy
225g (8oz) butter, diced
225g (8oz) Fair Trade golden caster sugar
4 eggs
225g (8oz) plain flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
50g (2oz) Fair Trade almonds or pecans, roughly chopped

For the icing:

450g (1Ib) icing sugar
1 egg white
juice of 1 lemon

Method

Soak the fruit overnight in half the brandy. Preheat the oven to 110 degrees C (225 degrees F, gas mark 1/4), and grease a 20 cm cake tin. Cream the butter and the sugar together for about five minutes until light and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition. Sift all the dry ingredients together. Fold into the batter, sugar and egg mixture by hand. Lastly, fold in the fruit, with any juices, and the nuts.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 2.5 to 3 hours, or perhaps a little longer. If the top starts to brown you can simply cover it with greaseproof paper or foil. The cake is ready when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean and the sides of the cake are pulling away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for ten minutes before turning out on to a wire rack. Using a skewer, or a cocktail stick, poke holes all over the top of the cake and pour over the rest of the brandy. The cake will absorb all of it. The cake is best eaten if made a week in advance and stored in a plastic container. The flavours will blend and develop during that time.