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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My Mum passed away just last month – she always made my cake for me at Christmas. And so at the ripe old age of 52, the time has come for me to have a go at baking my own cake! I am not averse to cooking & baking – but when your Mum makes such a heavenly cake, there has never been a reason to make one myself. I’ve really enjoyed reading through the comments and I think this looks like the cake for me. I’m going to go for pre-soaking the fruit overnight in some Bushmills that I found in hubby’s whisky cupboard! (He sneered at me when I suggested using one of his vintage scottish malts!). Baking tomorrow assisted by my daughter. Quite excited about it now! ps> my Mum also made the best mince pies ever – the pastry was so short it just melted away in your mouth! Lovely memories!
I made this cake the other day, I added the zest of an orange and the juice of halr the orange (minused this quantity from the beer) added whole alomonds and soaked the fruit in tea while preparing the other ingedients (no reduction to liquid) and…. IT IS AMAZING, smelt so delicious we have already had a slice (plan to ice over and put a santa so no one will know :)) this is by far the best chritmas cake I have ever made. I try new recipes regularly but i have found my favourite and am sticking to it for the years to come.
Thank you for the inspiration
I have made 2 today, one without ground almonds as I needed a nut free 1 so I used semolina instead and it has turned out fine just glad I added chopped nuts into the other so I can tell the difference,
Thanks xx
Made today, looks and smells fab, if wrapped up then iced will it keep til Christmas
Hello Jayne
Yes it will last till Christmas and well into January. Keep it wrapped in greasproof paper in an airtight tin before applying marzipan and icing after a few days.
Must make my cake soon. It’s the only fruit cake that Danny likes.
hi could you please tell me when i add the brandy and how much marzipan and icing i need and when to do all that final stuff , am off to asda now toget ingredients this is the first time i have ever made a xmas cake many thanks
You add the brandy when the cake is cold. Then wrap it up in greaseproof paper in an airtight tin until a week before Christmas. Apply the marzipan – our recipe for maripan https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/easy-marzipan-recipe-and-a-few-icing-tips-165 will give you enough for the cake and a few sweets (just press walnuts/glace cherries into balls of marzipan that have been rolled in sugar). One pack of icing sugar should be enough but remember to make it very, very thick.
Hi,
So glad I found this recipe again, made it last year with a few of my own tweaks on ingredients and loved it, thought I would never find it again this year and thankfully I have. xx
Hi Tessa
As long as our site is still going strong the recipe will always be here!
Hi,
Really like your recipe me and the sister in-law are cracking on in about 5 mins or so. Will let you know how it turns out. Fingers crossed.
Thanks Sharni and Debbie.
Made this cake in 2 x loaf tins, so I could eat/test one and keep the other.
Tweaked the recipe a tiny bit and soaked the fruit in 200ml of brandy first.
Tasted really great can really taste the booze which I prefer. Unfortunately so good that the 1st one is demolished and now I will have to make another couple.
(As the first one won’t be big enough on it’s own)
Thanks for the recipe, much nicer than the dark heavy sticky cakes that hang around far too long after Christmas.
Cheers, Ettie.
have to make a christmas cake for the school fayre on saturday left it a bit late!!! But this recipe sounds perfect quick and easy.I am also going to try doblig the recipe will let you know how it turns out.
Hi i really like the look of this recipe which also seems to be a big hit with everyone so i am going to use it as my first ever attempt at baking a Xmas cake, i got all my ingredients today and am all set to go tomorrow, the only thing is i only have a 9″ round tin 3″ deep, will this be ok or do i need to alter ingredients or cooking time??