Certosino-inspired Christmas Cake


Preparation Time: 1 day
Cooking Time: 1hr 20 minutes
Cuisine: Italian / British
Category: Cake
Certosino-inspired Christmas Cake - Recipe Image

Certosino is a traditional festive cake from Bologna, deeply rooted in the city’s medieval past and originally made by monks at the Certosa monastery, from which it takes its name. Unlike lighter British fruit cakes, certosino is dark, dense and gently bitter, flavoured with honey, cocoa or dark chocolate, dried fruits, nuts and warming spices. This recipe takes those flavours and merges them with a British light Christmas cake.

TOP TIP

This cake could be made well in advance. Undecorated it can be wrapped and left to mature for months in parchment and foil.

Ingredients

Cake Mix
375g currants
375g sultanas
150g dried figs, roughly chopped
150g glacé cherries, halved
150g mixed peel
40g crystallised ginger, chopped
190g Marsala

190g butter, softened
115g light muscovado sugar
75g honey

6 eggs, beaten

175g plain flour
¾ tsp baking powder
Good pinch of salt
75g ground almonds
75 g whole almonds, roughly chopped
75g Dark Chocolate
20g cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves

Decoration & Glaze
150g apricot jam
30g Marsala
Glacé fruit of your choice (I used clementines, pineapple, apricot and cherries)
Nuts of your choice (I used Brazil nuts)

Method

  1. Add the sultanas, currants, figs, cherries, mixed peel and ginger to a large bowl and pour over the 190g Marsala. Stir well and leave to soak overnight.
  2. Beat the butter, sugar and honey together until well combined.
  3. Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition. The mixture may split, but it will come back together once the dry ingredients are added.
  4. Add all the remaining cake mix ingredients and mix well. Once combined, tip into the soaked fruit and mix everything together thoroughly.
  5. Butter a 26cm Savarin or Bundt tin, then dust lightly with plain flour. Take your time to ensure the tin is well greased and floured, then tap upside down to remove any excess flour.
  6. Spoon the cake mixture into the tin and smooth the surface. Create a shallow circular channel in the mix to help the cake rise evenly.
  7. Bake at 140°C (fan) for 1 hour 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
  8. Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then carefully loosen the edges with a sharp knife and gently turn out. Take your time — it may need easing out in stages.
  9. Warm the apricot jam with the 30g Marsala, then brush generously over the whole cake.
  10. Decorate with the glacé fruit and nuts of your choice, then glaze again with the remaining jam.

Instructional Video by Tim

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