Those of you that have adventured with Jim know that not only does he love a great 4x4 adventure but can whip up the most amazing treats in a camp oven! This year while enjoying one of our 31 day Southern Africa adventures Jim orchestrated an incredible feast with everyone and their camp ovens in the middle of Savuti (Chobe National Park, Botswana).
Jim's 'Savuti Bakery' with Greg Murray supervising in the background!
Below is the recipe for Jim's Legendary Christmas cake if you are keen to give it a try in the camp oven or a conventional one. Jim also has a wicked sense of humour ... the proper title of the cake isn't Legendary, Jim named this one “Whoo hoo Easy Poos Healthy" Christmas cake but we couldn't put that in the title...
Happy Holidays !
Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas washed and drained and dried on absorbent towel 1 cup of Allbran 1/2 cup of oat bran 1 cup of natural almonds with skins 1 cup of pecans 1/2 cup of shredded coconut 1/4 cup of sesame seeds 1/4 cup of white chia seeds 1 cup of natural museli 1 cup of rolled oats 1 cup of dates chopped 1 & 1/2 cups of sultanas 1 cup of dried cranberries 3/4 cup of glacé ginger 1/2 cup of dried apricots chopped 1/2 cup of plum conserve 6 liqueur cumquats seeded and sliced 1/2 cup of chopped blanched almonds 1 tsp of ground nutmeg 1 tsp of ground cinnamon 5 cups of skim milk 1/2 cup of boiling water 2 tsp of bicarb of soda 3 cups of whole meal SR flour 1/2 cup of blanched almonds extra to decorate 1/4 cup of cumquat liqueur Olive oil to grease cake tin 1/4 cup of cumquat liqueur extra
Method
Blitz Allbran, dried chickpeas and oat bran until the mix is crumbed. Add almonds and pecans blitz for 5 secs to just chop nuts. Pour into large mixing bowl. Add coconut, sesame seeds, chia seeds, museli, rolled oats, dates, sultanas, cranberries, ginger, apricots, plum conserve, sliced cumquats, blanched almonds, nutmeg, cinnamon, then skim milk. Stir to combine and break down the plum conserve. Allow to infuse for at least 2 hours. Add bicarb dissolved in boiling water, stir. Add wholemeal SR flour stir to combine. Pour/spoon into a well oiled lined (2 layers baking paper) cake tin or oiled muffin tins. Enough for a cake and batch of muffins in this mix. Place extra blanched almonds on top of cake in a pattern that suits your liking, glaze top of cake and almonds with cumquat liqueur. Bake in a slow oven @ 150C for 1 & 1/2 hrs for muffins, 2 & 1/2 hrs for cake. After first hour reglaze top and turn cake 1/2 way round rotate cake every 15 minutes 1/4 turn to give a even top colouring. Test with skewer it should come out dry continue cooking if not dry. Remove from oven and allow to dry on a cake rack before removing from the tin. With a skewer push into the cake about half the depth then gently pour/brush another 1/4 cup of cumquat liqueur over the cake. Wrap in cling wrap for a week before slicing. [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
Note: Jim does not add any liqueur to the soaking mix to reduce any chance coagulation of the milk.