Christmas cake recipes please

[janeyo]

I have had a look and found a few from previous threads.
I really want to make one ths year but am a bit of a nonstarter when it comes to making fruit cakes so need really clear instructions.

Is it about time to start one off?

I like the idea of making a long one and then cutting it up and icing bits for gifts. Don't even know when am meant to ice them! But want to try as the old dears in my family would love that as a gift.

Any suggestions please? For a beginner.

We all like nuts, raisins, booze... the normal things in an xmas cake! TThanks in advance

The delia cake link doesn't work.

[bazzaboy]

Janeyo, if Delia's Christmas cake recipe is unobtainable online you can get hold of a version in her "Complete Cookery Course" (reprinted many times in the 1980s) - reliably brilliant, even I've successfully made it several times! In all there are about 10 pages of comments, recipes, tips, decorations, cooking times etc. (so a bit much to type out, sorry) If you can't locate it and PM me I'll send you a photocopy. It's a breeze. She also does a mean Xmas pud which, she claims, is one of the most popular recipes she's ever produced... no surprises there, it's straightforward and works a treat. b.

[Hazel at the Hill]

I'm guessing that it might be this delia recipe - is this the one, bazzaboy?

[Two_Sheds]

I made a Xmas cake from scratch once ... cost about £10 in ingredients as I remember (and nobody eats it)

[grannymem]

I've just googled "Delia's Christmas cake recipe" and it came up with one - cost about £8.95 so guess this might be the one you're looking for. Ingredients, method etc all there.
Best of luck

[Rhona]

I made a Xmas cake from scratch once ... cost about £10 in ingredients as I remember (and nobody eats it)

No-one in my family eats it either - I can't stand it - but we always always make one. And we argue about who gets to decorate it too. My little sis is the best at though - last year she did crystallized herbs, rosemary and the like, with some berries - looked stunning.

Might make my own this year but do an edible version that people actually enjoy.

[smallblueplanet]

...Might make my own this year but do an edible version that people actually enjoy.

Did you try making stollen last year? Would be popular with your new neighbours at least?

[Alison]

I find Delia's a bit heavy but always make this one these days:

CAREFREE CHRISTMAS CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

250g sultanas
250g raisins
100g chopped dates
100g chopped apricots
100g quartered glace cherries
Juice and zest of 1 large orange
100ml apricot brandy or Grand Marnier
250g softened butter
250g dark muscovado sugar
4 beaten eggs
250g plain flour
1 tsp of ground mixed sweet spice, cinnamon and nutmeg
100g roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1 tbsp black treacle

METHOD:

1. Place the sultans, raisins, dates, apricots, cherries, orange zest, juice and alcohol into a large saucepan and stir well. Bring to the boil; remove from the heat and leave to soak for 1 hour.
2. Place the butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat together until soft and creamy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well between each addition.
3. Add the flour, spices, hazelnuts, soaked fruit with all their juices and black treacle. Fold together.
4. Spoon the mixture into a lined 9” deep tin. Level the top. Tie a double layer of brown parchment paper or greaseproof paper around the outside of the cake tin. Bake at 150C, Gas 2 for 3 – 3 ¾ hours

Tis really nice and we eat it all up. Usually make it about mid Oct but it has been as late as mid Nov when I'm not so organised!

[janeyo]

I find Delia's a bit heavy but always make this one these days:

CAREFREE CHRISTMAS CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

250g sultanas
250g raisins
100g chopped dates
100g chopped apricots
100g quartered glace cherries
Juice and zest of 1 large orange
100ml apricot brandy or Grand Marnier
250g softened butter
250g dark muscovado sugar
4 beaten eggs
250g plain flour
1 tsp of ground mixed sweet spice, cinnamon and nutmeg
100g roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1 tbsp black treacle

METHOD:

1. Place the sultans, raisins, dates, apricots, cherries, orange zest, juice and alcohol into a large saucepan and stir well. Bring to the boil; remove from the heat and leave to soak for 1 hour.
2. Place the butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat together until soft and creamy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well between each addition.
3. Add the flour, spices, hazelnuts, soaked fruit with all their juices and black treacle. Fold together.
4. Spoon the mixture into a lined 9” deep tin. Level the top. Tie a double layer of brown parchment paper or greaseproof paper around the outside of the cake tin. Bake at 150C, Gas 2 for 3 – 3 ¾ hours

Tis really nice and we eat it all up. Usually make it about mid Oct but it has been as late as mid Nov when I'm not so organised!

Thanks Alison. That sounds easy enough for me.
Can I ice this? How long after would I do that?

[Alison]

I always end up icing it about a week before Christmas as I never get around to it until then but you could do it earlier if you wanted. If I remember I use a knitting needle to put holes into the cake every couple of weeks and pour brandy / orange liquer into to it. Makes it especially moist and yummy but not in any way essential.

[Hilary B]

I know a young mah who made the mincemeat Christmas cake from Delia's book. He was about 12 when he made it (can't possibly have been more than 15, as we had a fire about then and the book got burned). I don't eat fruit cake, but those who tried the mincemeat one loved it. VERY simple. Wish I still had the recipe.
I am told the cakes I occasionally make from the GoodHousekeeping book are good (like I said, I don't eat it). Got to do one after Christmas.
If you want marzipan on the cake, you need a week between 'stages' (bake, marzipan, ice, decorate). I once made a fruitcake in a loaf tin, and decorated it to look like a thatched cottage (thatch being made from marzipan).
I can bake, but I'm better at ideas for novelty decorations!

[Polly Fouracre]

If you want to make little, individual cakes save up tin cans in the size you want. Wash them thoroughly and put in a hot oven to sterilise.
Line as usual with greaseproof and put in your mixture to a bit more than halfway up the can. Iced and decorated they make lovely gifts for neighbours, elderly aunts etc.
Any rich fruit cake recipe will do.

[Alison]

If you want marzipan on the cake, you need a week between 'stages' (bake, marzipan, ice, decorate).

Maybe that's the ideal but you can quite happily do it the next day - I do pretty much every year.

[janeyo]

I love the tin can idea... not sure how long to cook for then though.

And does it have to have marzipan? Tis the spawn of the devil I tell you!

[bazzaboy]

And does it have to have marzipan? Tis the spawn of the devil I tell you!

Oh, I thought it was people who DISLIKED marzipan were deemed to have been spawned by the devil...? But maybe I've got that wrong? What's the origin of that one then? I tried Google but all I got was a chap espousing the merits of marzipan-covered-pork-scratchings (!) which even to a marzipan fan sounds the wrong side of devil worship... b.