CHRISTMAS seems to begin earlier each year, with the shops over-flowing with all kinds of temptations to spend, spend, spend. I tend to avoid shopping too early, as it detracts from the promise of the real celebrations. Besides, we still have Hallowe’en, Guy Fawkes night, St Andrew’s Day and my birthday to get through before December!

For generations, these festivities have been about families and communities coming together to brighten up the dark days of winter. Hearty food made from dried fruits, nuts, spices, citrus peel and preserves, stored to keep safe some of summer’s sunshine, brightening the long nights and shorter daylight hours. For me, getting ready for Christmas is not about long lists of presents, but all about preparing the main ingredients, giving them time to mature and develop their wonderful flavour combinations, well ahead. At Christmas there is always a reason to reach for the cake tins and being prepared means there will be homemade goodies ready for unexpected visitors, a shivery-bite at the end of a family walk on a frosty day, or a late-night snack for young revellers enjoying their time at home.

Looking back upon my own childhood, the Christmas Day meal was always a big family occasion, with the kitchen preparations all part of the exciting build-up to the big day. Home-baking was an essential part of this, with items wrapped, bottled, jarred and stored away during the weeks ahead. There were no household freezers then, so old-fashioned methods of long, slow cooking, were commonplace. The kitchen seemed to be permanently warm and steamy from puddings on a steady boil and cakes baking in a low oven, the spicy aromas greeting you as soon as you opened the front door. Mum made everything. I can picture her now in our kitchen, the red Formica table-top cluttered with basic utensils and familiar ingredients. She never owned electric gadgets. Her mixing bowl, wooden spoon, sieve, grater and peeler were with her most of her life, as were her assorted baking trays and cake tins; all well-worn and a wee bit bashed.

Her companion cookery book was Marguerite Patten’s Cookery In Colour, first published in 1960 and described as a “picture encyclopaedia for every occasion”. She also had a small notebook full of recipes in her own neat handwriting, which she kept in the sideboard drawer. This had been with her since she got married in 1940 and contained a number of recipes using wartime ingredients. I still have this, together with the original copy of my Grandmother’s recipe contained in it, for my Dad’s favourite coconut cake, sent to Mum by letter, no doubt to ensure that the new husband was being well looked after.

Marguerite Patten’s book, the muted tones of the colour printing on non-glossy paper, must have been seen as something new and exciting when it was first published. This was also the time of watching Fanny Craddock on television, my mother mocking her risible ways, hairstyles and long fingernails, as she gave directions to husband Johnnie and assistant Peter. Following that time, my oldest sister began collecting the Cordon Bleu weekly magazines, building the whole series in dark blue ring-binder files owned by all wannabe home cooks, as the era of home dinner parties blossomed. These were much glossier publications, with beautiful, tempting photographs. And then, in my era, along came Delia Smith, with her no-nonsense approach to home-cooking, all good, back-to-basics recipes with descriptive how-to methods, but with lots of flair built-in for those who wanted to experiment.

My Christmas recipes have been adapted over the years from my original copy of her highly popular Complete Cookery Course, first published in 1978. This is stuck together with tape, with many grubby pages and notes pencilled-in all over it. I would hate to be parted from it. Although many male, professional chefs mocked her style and approach, I will never do so, as I realise how much my generation learned from her step-by-step, explanatory ways. We could do with a modern version of Delia to help get the country cooking again – and enjoying it!

This Christmas cake recipe can be made for any family celebration, including weddings and christenings. I prefer to decorate mine with whole nuts and cherries, because not everyone in our family enjoys marzipan and icing like I do. However, instructions for making your own marzipan and Royal icing can be found easily and made ahead of Christmas Day. Like everything else associated with Christmas food, I recommend making your own as it tastes so much better than any shop-bought version.

Christmas Cake

For a 21cm deep cake tin, preferably with a loose-bottom

450g currants

175g sultanas

175g raisins

50g mixed peel, chopped

50g glace cherries rinsed under warm water and chopped into quarters

50g nibbed almonds

2 lemons

2 oranges

2 tbsp Seville orange marmalade

3 tbsp. brandy

175g plain flour

50g ground almonds

¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

½ tsp ground mixed spice

225g unsalted butter at room temperature

225g soft light brown sugar

1 dsstsp black treacle

4 eggs

Extra whole nuts and cherries for decoration

1 tbsp Seville orange marmalade, plus 1 tbsp water, for the glaze

Method

The night before:

1. Place dried fruit, mixed peel, cherries, and nibbed almonds in a bowl. Add the finely grated zest of the lemons and oranges, plus the juice of one lemon and one orange. Add the marmalade, brandy and mix everything together very well. Cover with a clean cloth and leave to absorb juices overnight (at least 12 hours).

To make the cake

1. Preheat oven to 140°C, Gas Mark 1.

2. Prepare cake tin by lightly greasing the base and covering it with a circle of non-stick parchment paper. Lightly grease the sides of the tin and line with strips of non-stick parchment paper, to just above the rim of the cake tin.

3. Sieve flour, ground almonds and spices into a clean bowl.

4. Dice the butter and place in a large mixing bowl with the brown sugar. Cream together until light and fluffy.

5. Whisk the eggs in a clean bowl, add treacle (warm the spoon first) and whisk again.

6. Add the egg mixture to the creamed mixture, a little bit at a time until all is combined. If the mixture shows signs of curdling, fold in a spoonful of flour mixture before continuing. Once all the egg is incorporated, fold in the rest of the flour.

7. Add the soaked fruit and fold the whole mixture together well.

8. Spoon the completed mixture into the prepared cake tin. Level the surface with the back of a wooden spoon then make a slight hollow in the centre.

To decorate as illustrated

1. Use whole blanched almonds, whole walnut halves, Brazil nuts, or pecan nuts. Glace cherries, rinsed to remove the syrup, can be cut in half and used too, to taste.

2. Decorate the cake with a regular pattern by gently pressing the nuts and cherries into the surface of the uncooked cake.

Finally:

1. Cut a double circle of non-stick parchment paper to cover the surface of the cake. Cut a hole in the centre, roughly the same size as the hollow.

2. Wrap a folded sheet of brown paper or newspaper around the outside of the cake tin and secure with string. The paper should reach above the rim of the tin. This protects the sides from the heat of the oven during the long cooking period.

3. Place cake in the oven on the lowest shelf and leave to bake for at least 3½ hours before opening the oven door. When you do, press the surface gently to check its progress. If the surface is not over-brown, remove the paper from the surface of the cake. Return to oven for at least a further 30 minutes, or longer. The cake should be feeling firm, but slightly springy to touch. Test by spearing a very thin metal skewer into the centre of the cake. When it is removed, it should be clean with no mixture sticking to it.

4. Remove cake from the oven and stand on a cooling tray. Leave in the tin until completely cold. Remove from the tin, remove the papers and glaze as below.

To make the glaze:

1. Put one tablespoon of marmalade plus one tablespoon of water into a small saucepan and heat until warm and melted while stirring with a wooden spoon. Pour the marmalade through a sieve to remove any peel.

2. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the warm glaze all over surface of the cake. Leave to set.

3. Wrap loosely in fresh greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin. If liked, prick the cake and douse it with extra brandy after one month and return to storage.

Shirley Spear is owner of The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By on the Isle of Skye, and chairwoman of the Scottish Food Commission, which is helping to build Scotland into a Good Food Nation. See threechimneys.co.uk