Soak the fruit in the whiskey overnight. For us it has to be Spirit of Yorkshire and their malts - Yorkshire's first ever single malt from their distillery at Hunmanby Gap. Using casks from Bourbon for spice, sherry for smooth, chocolately notes, and red wine for fruitiness. Perfect!
Preheat the oven to 140°C/120°C Fan/Gas 1. Grease a 20cm square or 23cm round cake tin with a little rapeseed oil and line it with 3 layers of baking parchment.
Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the sultanas, raisins, dates, bicarb, salt, cardamom and mixed spice and stir well. Add the molasses and golden syrup and mix them in thoroughly. Stir in the beaten eggs, then the rapeseed oil. Add the grated carrot and orange and lemon zest and give it all a good old stir until everything is well combined.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tin – it should reach about three quarters of the way up the tin. Cover the top with a sheet of greaseproof paper and put the cake in the preheated oven. Bake for 2 hours and 15 minutes, then test it with a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake. If the skewer comes out more or less clean, the cake is cooked. If not, put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes, then test again. The cake might need up to 2 hours and 45 minutes, depending on your oven and tin.
Once the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and leave it to cool in the tin. Then transfer it to a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Wrap the cake in greaseproof paper and foil and store in a cool, dry place until Christmas.
And if you want to make your Christmas cake extra boozy, feed it once a week! Make some holes in the top with a skewer and carefully pour over some more whiskey. Allow it to soak in, then wrap the cake up again.
