The only time you'll be able to fit a whole tree in a cake!
Ingredients
For the Christmas trees:
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 large eggs
140g self-raising flour, sifted
½ tsp baking powder
100g ground almonds
100ml milk
Green food colouring
For the cake:
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
175g self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
150g ground almonds
100ml milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the icing:
100g icing sugar
50g unsalted butter, softened
25g condensed milk
100g toasted almond flakes
50g sugared red currants
A few sprigs of fresh mint
Instructions
Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/. Grease a 900g loaf tin and line with a strip of baking parchment. Cream the butter and sugar for the Christmas trees together until light and fluffy. Beat in the 3 eggs separately, mixing well after each addition. Sift together 140g flour and 1⁄2 tsp baking powder, then fold into the mixture along with the almonds. Combine 100ml milk, 11⁄2 tsp vanilla and a good amount of the green food colouring and add to the batter, then mix until evenly coloured.
Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hr until a skewer comes out clean, covering with foil if it gets too dark in colour. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack. When cool, cut the cake into slices. Using a cutter, stamp out Christmas trees and save the leftover green cake for eating!
Repeat the process to make a second cake mixture then pour 1⁄2 of the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Push the bottoms of the trees into the batter in a tightly packed row. Spoon over the remaining cake mixture, covering the trees and bake for 1 hr or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the icing, combine the butter, sugar and condensed milk in a bowl and mix until thick and fluffy.
Sprinkle with the toasted almonds and add the sugar cranberries. Finish with a few sprigs of mint and serve straight away.
Recipe by Cooking TV Recipes at https://cookingtv-channel.com/christmas-tree-reveal-cake/