Christmas cake recipes please

[bazzaboy]

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

Pretty much identical recipes, Hazel, good one, thanks - the listed ingredients are the same (and metric weights still demoted to brackets, Classic indeed). The instructions have been re-written but their intention remains largely the same: in 1978 oranges and lemons had “rind”, ovens had “warming drawers” to tame treacle, creaming butter and sugar is emphasised as the most important part of the whole process, and there’s even the odd joke: “If you are not going to ice the cake you can arrange some whole blanched almonds over the surface but do it lightly or else they disappear for ever into the cake!” (Well OK, attempt at a joke…) The 1978 cake is not costed as this more recent version is - difficult to do that in retrospect but bear in mind in 1978 petrol had risen to 78p a GALLON, a VHS video recorder was, crikey, fresh on the market at £800 (!), cinema ticket 65p, average price for a house £13,650, bank rate 12.5%... (Source: Credit Crunch Christmas 2008 - Step back to Christmas 1978 - SaveBorrowSpend.co.uk ). The biggest change of course is in cake decoration details, no suggestion in 1978 of any cheating with almond paste (though it is called “quick” almond paste and a glance at the recipe suggests you could probably easily make it in a day or two…) and of course in Royal Icing with raw egg-whites aplenty. But no matter, not only a “Classic” but pretty near infallible, wouldn’t be Christmas without it….

2Sheds and others – waste it? Oh dear, next time send it over here please, I try to live on it until about March (when hot cross buns take over life support…). Keeps/improves without too much faffing, great food value, it’s like having to hand a perpetual Kendal Mint Cake Survival Pack with Brandy and no St Bernard to worry about…

Going back to Janeyo’s original question about “making a long one…”, er, that’s going to be problematic in the oven for 4+ hours so howsabout making a 7” square version, feeding it the required brandy and then cutting into gift portions and decorating separately. I did something like that one year, turning chunks into icebergs (some earnest statement about global warming c/w almond paste polar bears…) – increased somewhat the icing-to-cake ratio but otherwise OK, kids thought it was kool….. You’re in good time to plan such excesses!

But don’t forget The Puddings, Janeyo, ideal gifts.... And my best tip… that lengthy steaming process they require (which, if you’re doing loads, will almost see condensation dripping off the ceiling…!) - use a slow cooker, problem solved. They improve markedly over a few months, no need for any devil's spawn but rather food for the gods.... Happy days, happy Christmas! b.

[sweetiepea]

This is a fairly simple but delicious fruitcake, ideal for Christmas and for icing if you want to (marzipan optional!). It can be made in a round tin or a loaf tin, which might suit you better. The best part this cake is the Irish whiskey!!!

Cooley Whiskey Fruit Cake

Ingredients
200g / 8oz currants
400g/1lb sultanas
300g/12oz raisins
Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
Approx 200ml / ¼ pint Cooley Whiskey
50g/2oz glace cherries, washed and halved
50g/2oz mixed peel
200g/8oz butter or margarine (real butter gives a better flavour)
200g/8oz brown sugar
200g/8oz plain flour
75g/3oz chopped almonds
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons mixed spice
5 eggs

Method
1.Soak currents, sultanas, raisins and the lemon zest and juice in half the whiskey, preferably overnight.
2.Sieve together the flour and spices.
3.Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4.Beat the eggs, and then beat in 1/3 of the beaten egg to the creamed butter and sugar, along with 1 tablespoon of flour. Repeat this 3 times.
5.Fold in the remaining flour, cherries, almonds and soaked fruit.
6.Spoon into a lines 23cm (9inch) round cake tin (or 2 x 1lb loaf tins)
7.Cook at 140°C/275°F for approx 2 hours.
8.Cool in the tin for about ½ an hour. Turn out and prick the top of the cake with a skewer and gently pour in the remaining whiskey.
9.When cold, wrap the cake in greaseproof paper then foil.

Best kept for a few weeks to mature.

Of course it can be any Irish whiskey, but I recommend Cooley Whiskey because it’s made in my neck of the woods!

[jackie j]

When my boys were little they asked me why didnt I have a birthday cake, forgot to make one for myself and they were dissapointed so I got the christmas cake that was still sitting on the side ( my birthday being 5th January ) took off the christmas decorations and added a plastic happy birthday and candles and they loved it, we do it every year now.

[basketcase]

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

No we don't either (nor mince pies; nor C Pudding) Bah! Humbug!!.

I used to make one when I had all the family coming round because they all liked it. I'd decorate it lovingly and, if I say so myself, quite prettily. Then no-one would eat it because "It was far too nice to cut!" Aargh!

Does anyone remember a recipe from a magazine (I think Woman's Weekly) that had a layer of marzipan through the middle? Once I'd given up decorating nicely so it got eaten, this seemed to be an all time favourite. Can't post because I've lost it.

We have a Chocolate Log. Yum.

[smallblueplanet]

Was it for stollen basketcase? If so see post no.7 above for link, made some last year and it was very yummy indeed!

[Hilary B]

No we don't either (nor mince pies; nor C Pudding) Bah! Humbug!!.

I used to make one when I had all the family coming round because they all liked it. I'd decorate it lovingly and, if I say so myself, quite prettily. Then no-one would eat it because "It was far too nice to cut!" Aargh!

Does anyone remember a recipe from a magazine (I think Woman's Weekly) that had a layer of marzipan through the middle? Once I'd given up decorating nicely so it got eaten, this seemed to be an all time favourite. Can't post because I've lost it.

We have a Chocolate Log. Yum.

Marzipan through the middle sounds like Simnel cake, traditional at Easter.

Royal icing on fresh Marzipan the yellow colour 'leaks' through, but with fondant icing, much easier.

'Shop' Marzipan was far from new when I used it on the Christmas cake I made at school in about 1966. These days, even if I did intend to make anything of the kind, I would use 'liquid glucose' as the base (in fact I sometimes do, on my own recipe cake, with no dried 'vinefruits', and a marzipan based on hazelnuts instead of almonds, I only like almonds WHOLE).