Skye McAlpine's Recipe for Certosino di Natale

For those of you that don't know Skye McAlpine, follow her here. She's a lovely creative that I had the pleasure to meet via social media; don't you love that?! Part of the reason she was of such interest to me is that she, like me, lives in Italy part time. Her city, Venice, is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. As you know I spend my summers on the Italian Riviera, so we already have so much in common.Skye shares my love for all things Italian and all things of beauty, especially props, food, prop styling, and photography, so we became instant friends. Besides being a sweet soul, life is full of surprises, and as we got to know each other, we discovered that the world is a very small place indeed.It turns out the Skye and I have a dear friend in common. When we discovered this, we decided we were meant to meet (thanks Cleo!), and I am so glad that we did. Skye will be joining us in Italy at our Food/Prop Styling and Photography Workshop June 4-8th (wildly clapping!!!). If you have not signed up, check out the workshop in my hometown of Alassio, Italy here. I can hardly wait!In the meantime, I asked Skye to please put together a little holiday cheer in the form of a post for my blog. I love the way she shoots and styles, so I wanted to share her creative gift and a yummy recipe here with you (you're welcome). I love Skye, and I know you will too. Take it away Skye McAlpine...This time of year is all about rich fruitcakes and stout puddings. In Britain we eat dark, heavy, butter-and-brandy-laden Christmas cake, with marzipan and sugary white icing. We do it huddled by a fire with mugs of milky tea, and perhaps under the shimmer of a sparkling Christmas tree, a few carols humming in the background. So it’s all fine and dandy. Quite cozy, really. But in Italy, fruitcake is a far more delicate affair. Sophisticated, even. Certosino is the Italian Christmas cake - or the closest thing to what we mean when we say ‘Christmas cake’ in the Anglosaxon world. With a Certosino, you steep the fruit in a dry red wine overnight, so that it becomes plump and sweet but not quite sugary sweet. And then you bake the fruit into a cake made with honey, and pine nuts, almonds, fennel seeds and chocolate. And just a mere whisper of ground cinnamon. It’s sophisticated, yes. And utterly dreamy.I find the Certosino to be a little drier than a traditional British fruitcake; it’s almost more of a hybrid between a gingerbread of sorts (though it has no ginger) and a soft chocolate biscuit. It’s a satisfying cake to make; there is something about the scent of melting honey, mixed with fennel seeds and cinnamon, that is deeply and wonderfully intoxicating. There are few kitchen smells quite like it. It’s also one of those recipes that every family makes in their own way, according to their own traditions and a recipe that, odds are, has been passed down through generations. Maybe they leave out the candied peel and add a few more raisins. Some like more chocolate, others more nuts. I’ve even seen it made with grated apple that gives it a sweeter, denser texture.The recipe below is my version of the Certosino Christmas cake, the one I bake every year for my family.I have left the instructions for decoration vague, as it is really a matter of taste, but the principal is simple: use a syrup of apricot jam to glue fruit and nuts to top the cake. You can do this in any which way you like. If you have trouble sourcing glacé fruits, then dried apricots and figs make for a delicious alternative. Just glaze them with the apricot syrup once you’ve fixed them in place, so that they’re lovely and glossy.Eat with a glass of sweet red wine. Christmas tree, carols, and twinkling lights not mandatory, but awfully nice additions.

Certosino di Natale(Honey, Pinenut and Almond Fruitcake)

Serves: 8-10

Prep Time: 20 mins (and soak the raisins overnight)Cooking Time: 45 mins -1 hr

You will need:

FOR THE CAKE

- 40g raisins

- 40g mixed candied peel

- 30ml dry red wine or Marsala

- 320g flour

- 30g cocoa powder

- 2 tsps bicarbonate of soda

- 300g honey- 40g butter

- 70g sugar

- 1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 3 tbsps water

- 60g pine nuts

- 200g blanched almonds

- 60g dark chocolate

FOR THE DECORATION

- 2 (heaped) tbsps apricot jam

- 2 tsps water

- 10-12 slices of glacé orange

- 3 glacé pears

- 10-12 glacé cherries

- handful of blanched almonds

Preparation:

Add the raisins and candied peel to a medium sized bowl and pour in the wine, then leave to soak overnight.Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, grease and line a 25cm cake tin. Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarb into a large mixing bowl and set to one side.Add the butter to a small saucepan along with the sugar, honey, fennel seeds and cinnamon, then set over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Stir now and then to make sure that nothing burns on the bottom of the pan.Add the raisins (with all their juices) and pine nuts to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl, stir well.Roughly chop the chocolate and the almonds, then add them too. Stir again.Now pour in the melted butter and honey, and stir until well combined. The batter will be quite stiff, so stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. If needs be, add another splash of red wine.Pour the cake batter into the tin and bake for 45 mins to 1 hr, until it’s golden on top, and when you press a skewer into the cake, it comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.To decorate, spoon the jam into a small saucepan with the water; set over a low to medium heat until the jam becomes syrupy and begins to bubble. Take it off the heat and use a pastry brush to glaze the cake, then lightly press the glacé fruits and nuts on to the top of the cake leaving no gaps. Brush the remaining glaze over the nuts so that it is all shiny.For those of you that need measurements in cups see the conversion chart here

Photos by: Skye McAlpine

Photo of Skye: Sandrine Fauconnet