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.
Leave a reply
Hi Kim
I am going to make the cake next week. Any time up until a week before Christmas is fine. This leaves you time to marzipan and ice it.
You don’t soak the fruit for this recipe. I pour on the whiskey when the cake is cold and leave it at that. I don’t carry on feeding it after that. If you leave out the cherries add the same weight of other fruit. In fact I hate candied peel so used cherries instead, so this would be an ideal swap!
A hollow is a crater shape or dip in the centre of the cake – this gives a flatter end result when the cake rises.
This cake is jolly good and well worth making. We have a marzipan recipe here https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=165 – it takes minutes to make and is miles better than the shop bought stuff.
hi its me again, silly me for forgetting but in the recipe it states to make a hollow about 2″ wide and 1″ deep? what exactly does this mean??
kim x
Hi there,
This is my first time at making a christmas cake and i admit i have left it late, but i hate christmas cakes that have been around for a couple of months and also ones that reek of alcohol (although i dont mind a bit!
I am wondering when is the best time to make this cake??? I plan to include all the ingredients minus glace cherries (yuck) but am not sure whether to give it a soaking of whiskey or whether to soak the fruit??? so i have a few questions…
1.) How long do I soak the fruit for and what is best to soak it in?
2.) If I make the cake on saturday (8th) will i need to soak it at all before Christmas and if so how many times and with what?
Sorry am a complete novice but want to knock everyone’s socks off with this cake
Kim x
Hi Mildred,
Yes the coversion calculator is very nifty. I’ve only found tables before.
Hi Fi, that conversion calculator webpage is the best!! Thanks for the link.
Hi Elizabeth,
I have found an online converter that will calculate the conversions for you. It is easy to use and you can find it here http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/tools.measures/Measures.cfm
Good luck with the cake.
hi ive not made a christmas cake since high school but i dont have scales could you convert your recipe into cups/ tablespoons for me so i know what to do as i dont want to buy any scales just for this it would be greatly appreciated as i really want to make a christmas cake this year and yours looks the easiest to make thank very much
elizabeth
x
Hi Dawn
I hope that this recipe worked for your lady. This is the only cake that I make!
Hi Margaret,
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave the feedback.
I’m delighted that you liked our recipe!
Hi,
Just some feedback to let you know that I made this cake on Saturday. There was a bit too much mixture for my cake tin, so I made an additional smaller cake. We couldnt wait to try it and cut into the small cake the next day.
Really, the flavour is so good already that, although I bought a half bottle of brandy to feed it, I shant bother to do so as I dont want to spoil what is already delicious. Thanks so much for this recipe.
Margaret
HI I work in a stroke rehabilitation unit I was looking on the web for a easy recipe for a lady to try and found yours which looks realy straight forward and easy to follow