Last minute Christmas cake recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Christmas, Desserts | 297 comments
Over the years we have tried various Christmas cake recipes but the best by far was the one that we made last year, a week before Christmas. We wanted a cake packed with fruit but not a dark heavy traditional type of Christmas cake. We’d had to force down too many slices of these in the past.
My Mother used to make us these and bring one each Christmas. Then she decided to buy them. These were worse and not disguised by being fed with lashings of brandy. We’d cut a few slices at Christmas, give her half the cake to take home at the end of her stay and the rest would linger in the larder for weeks and eventually been tossed out with the rubbish. We tried feeding one particularly disappointing one to the birds one year, and even they turned their beaks up at it.
“Make a Christmas cake if you want. But I won’t be eating it,” said Danny, settling in a large armchair to watch the rugby. Faced with this challenge I was determined to bake a cake that even D couldn’t resist.
I skimmed though all our books and found a recipe for a Christmas cake that sounded lighter than usual and tinkered with the ingredients. I replaced the darker ingredients, molasses, stout and muscavado sugar with lighter alternatives. We didn’t cut it until Boxing Day, when I spotted Danny sneaking into the kitchen for a second slice. Slightly paler than a traditional cake, it was packed with fruit, tasted wonderful and kept well. The last slice was tucked into my lunchbox at the end of January.
If you fancy trying a more traditional recipe, here are two links to sites with Christmas cake recipes that look good:
There is a Mary Berry recipe here http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/apricotandbrandychri_77766.shtml
Delia Smith has a range of recipes here http://www.deliaonline.com/search/?qx=christmas+cake
Last minute Christmas cake recipe:
Equipment:
8″ round cake tin (4″ deep), baking parchment.
Ingredients:
- 450g raisins
- 285g sultanas
- 110g currants
- 180g glacé cherries (halved)
- 110g ground almonds
- 225g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 225g soft brown sugar (pale)
- 285g plain flour (sieved)
- zest of a lemon
- 5 eggs
- 2 tsp of mixed spice
- 2 tbsp of pale runny honey
- 200 ml of beer (I used Speckled Hen)
- 4 tbsp of Irish Whiskey/Whisky/ Brandy – when the baked cake has cooled
Method:
- Preheat oven to 160c (140 fan)
- Line the base and sides of the 8″ cake tin with a double thickness of baking parchment. Cut the paper an inch deeper than the tin so that it is sticking above the top rim.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (I use an electric mixer for this).
- Beat the eggs well and add them gradually to the mixture, a little at a time, beating them well. If the mixture curdles beat in a teaspoon of the flour before continuing.
- Using a tablespoon, gently fold in the flour, lemon zest and spices.
- Fold in the beer and honey and stir gently.
- Add the fruit and ground almonds and stir gently.
- Transfer the mixture to the cake tin and make a hollow in the centre of the mixture (roughly 2″ wide and 1″ deep).
- Bake in the centre of a preheated oven for about 2.5 hours depending on your oven, it may need a little longer. Check that it is cooked by inserting a skewer into the middle – this should be clean when removed. The centre should feel firm and springy if touched.
- Turn out onto a wire rack. When it is cold, make a few holes in the top and bottom of the cake (using a skewer) and feed the cake with the Irish whiskey (brandy would be fine as an alternative).
- Wrap the cake in baking parchment and store in a tin or cover with foil until you need it.
- If you would like to make your own marzipan – it’s very easy and so much better than bought. My recipe is here
Tips and tricks:
- If you are going to cover the cake with marzipan and ice it, put the marzipan on a few days before it is iced so the surface of the marzipan can dry. Otherwise the marzipan can bleed through and stain the icing.
- I sliced off the top of my cake before putting on the marzipan so the top would be flat. Or use the base as the top.
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Can’t believe it’s the first Christmas Cake I’ve ever made – what a success, I’ll definitely do it again. Like Beatrice, I didn’t have honey so added a small amount of golden syrup and I love walnuts so threw in a large handful roughly chopped. Yum!
What a fantastic recipe. I made the cake two days before Christmas, substituting 90g prunes and 90g apricots for the glace
cherries. I also omitted the honey but ‘fed’ it with 2 tablespoons
of Brandy after baking. This recipe will definitely be used again
and again!
Hi Tammy
Yes it’s undercooked. The skewer should be clean and the centre springy. I don’t think that you can rebake a cake but you could freeze it in portions to serve as a rich pudding.
You are not rubbish I reckon your oven is at fault. It might be worth investing in an oven thermometer – they are about 4 quid to check the temperature.
OK just made the cake and now I need help! Tested it after 2 and a half hours and the middle (where the hollow was) was very pale and quite damp with some liquid on top. I dabbed off the damp part with kitchen roll and put back in the oven for another 15 mins. Kept testing and after another 45 mins thought maybe this is just how it’s supposed to be? Didn’t want to cook it for much longer in case it overcooked.
So I left in the tin for 5 mins and then turned out onto a plate ( I haven’t got a cooling rack). As I pulled the parchment paper off (as gently as I could manage) a lot of the cake came away stuck to it at the sides so it is a bit of an uneven shape now. Made me think was I meant to grease the parchment paper?
Then when I saw the bottom of the cake is very pale coloured, a soft texture and when I touched it with my finger it didn’t spring up. Now I’m wondering should I have cooked it for longer? Can I now put it back in the oven or is it too late? Or maybe it will firm up if I leave it a bit?
Any advice please? I feel a bit rubbish because everyone else has said how easy the recipe is!
Thank you for this recipe.
I have just tried it for the first time and my cakes have just come out of the oven. I was wondering if i have to leave them in the tins to cool down for a bit or whether they can be turned out immediately. They look fab and i would hate to get it wrong at this point and risk them collasping.
Hi Sue
Let tem rest for a few minutes (5) and then turn them out onto a cooling rack while they are still warm as they will continue to cook in the tins.
Hello Martin
Good news, I’m delighted 🙂
Thank you very much for this great recipe.
It was the star of our Kick-Off-The-Festive-Season party yesterday.
Delicious!
Martin
Just bought the ingredients to make my Christmas cake this afternoon but discovered I have the wrong size cake tin. A quick dash to Homebase to get the right size tin and I’ll be ready. Will let you know how I get on x
Hi Jamie and Simon
Thank you so much for dropping by and leaving these comments. This is the only Christmas cake that I like 🙂
Hello…I also made my practice cake…And its great…I will get the real verdict on saturday when my family are here to test it…I give it 10/10….If your going to make a cake this christmas,Make it this one. Simon