Christmas cake

I'm creating this blog for anyone who, like me, is interested in cooking with a woodstove. I have recently acquired one, and it combines my passions for peasant cooking and playing with fire.

Wood is undoubtedly an ecologically sound fuel for heating, particularly here in France where it only travels a few miles at most from felling to burning. When I was replacing the inefficient woodburner in my tiny French house (my only heat source apart from an emergency backup electric radiator - but I do have an electric blanket too!) I decided to get a cooker as this way I would be able to cook my meals at what my husband calls "zero marginal cost".

However, I'm still very much a novice, and this blog is my learning curve...

One of the first things I have made in the oven is a Christmas cake. I used to have an Aga many years ago so I used the wonderful Mary Berry's recipe from the Aga cookbook. I modified the recipe, using rum rather than sherry, and omitting the cherries in favour of preserved ginger, chopped prunes and a bit of dried pineapple. (I'm thinking - caribbean twist...)

I didn't use an Aga cake baker, I just put in in the oven at 110 degrees C and anxiously monitored the temperature for the next five hours, putting on another log, letting more air in, closing the vents etc. It was much easier than I had feared. The stove was extremely good-tempered and well-behaved and I even managed to keep it hovering around the right temperature. I could see that the cake was cooking as it should, thanks to the glass door, and - crucially - not burning. Eventually after five and a half hours I thought it looked okay, and tested it with a skewer - it was perfect! Of course, the taste test is yet to come (I will keep you posted) but I feel ever so slightly triumphant.

Will be feeding it with rum for the next few weeks. Bring on Christmas!