For a lot of us when it comes to Christmas, it is not the presents we receive that are the most important thing, it is spending time with loved ones and enjoying a good Christmas meal. But no Christmas meal would be complete without a good Christmas cake to go with a drink later.

Today in The Great British Bake Off – Masterclasses,  Mary Berry and her assistant Paul Hollywood, shows how to make a classic Christmas cake.

The first thing to note is that a good Christmas cake must be started at least three weeks before the festive date if it is to be ready on time.

To make her cake, Mary put a kilo of dried currants, raisins and sultanas in a bowl and adds a jar of dried cherries followed by the grated zest of two oranges.

Mary soaks the dried fruit mix in a quarter pint of brandy then covered with Clingfilm and left to soak for three days.

To make her cake mix, Mary puts 4 eggs at room temperature in a large mixing bowl, and then adds 250g of soft butter and a table spoon of black treacle.  This is followed by 250g of light muscovado sugar, a tea spoon and a half of mixed spice and 75g of blanched almonds roughly chopped.

She then mix the ingredients in the mixer until the butter is broken down and the mixture appear to be one colour.

Mary then adds 175g of plain flour and mixed until the flour is absorbed. She then adds the fruit that was soaked for three days and mix thoroughly to combine with the mixture.

She then poured the mixture into a well-buttered 25cm cake tin lined with grease prove paper.

Mary puts the cake in a preheated oven at 140 degrees  for 4 – 4.5 hours.