Christmas Cake

I have used Delia's recipe for years also, and have found that as long as you use the same quantity of fruit (which is 2lb) try substituting your own mix. I have used less currants, golden sultanas, and fewer raisers, dried finely chopped apricots and more cherries and peel. Also leave out the black treacle, as it makes the cake very dark. I recently made 75 minature cakes using my own fruit mix and it was very successful!!

I use a Good Housekeeping Christmas cake recipe from cookery book by them that's nearly 50 years old. I think it's the aftercare that makes the difference. Mine gets fed with brandy every couple of weeks up till it gets its marzipan.

I buy lots of small packets of different fruit, such as mango, as well as mixed berries from a well known health food shop, and dried apple bits add moisture.

I make two cakes, one for a DDiL who doesn't bake and loves a Christmas cake, and a "Jewel" cake for us nearer the time. This has lots of cherries and exotic fruit, is decorated with crystallised fruits, and laced with limoncello.

Looking forward to making them!

I used to make several cakes, using Delia's recipe. However, now that the oldest generation has died out, my family don't like traditional fruit cakes and I'd only end up eating it myself. I make a Caribbean cake from a recipe I found years ago in the Guardian. It has loads of different kinds of fruit and lots of ginger. The most important ingredient is rum! It's best accompanied by a good vanilla ice cream. It's best not to drive too soon after eating it.

I am reporting this thread for using the "C" word before the end of November.

pompa [like]

pompa I think "C" cake warrants an exemption because it needs to be made now in order for enough dousing in inebriating liquid each week before "C" Day

I use Delia's Creole Christmas cake recipe, but also replace the currants with dried apricots, I don't like mixed peel, so add extre glacé cherries. The best Christmas pud recipe that I've ever tasted, is one from Good Housekeeping magazine, from the November 2011 edition. It's popularity is endorsed by family & friends !

After 33 yrs. of marriage, I have yet to bake a successful Christmas cake. I gave up some years ago and now ask my Sis.i.L to make one. She has an Aga and bakes them overnight in the bottom oven. They are beautiful. I usually buy a pud from a local butcher who does a wonderful one from a recipe given to them by my late MiL.

Great minds, Teetime I was thinking of starting this thread today. This week I have made a 'Delia' C pudding and the cake is in the oven at the moment. The cake recipe I used is from Home & Freezer Digest from August 1982. The magazine is getting a bit dog eared so I am transferring the recipe to the computer. It is a good recipe and is given for a multitude of cake tin sizes, both square and round. I have also used it for a couple of wedding cakes. (The WI 50th birthday cake is currently maturing.)

pompa I am reporting this thread for using the "C" word before the end of November

I use the word 'Currants' all the year round!

Waitrose was selling a Delia 'that time of year' cake kit a couple of years ago; they reduced them to half-price well before the date needed - I bought and made two. Everything weighed out and nothing left to linger around in the cupboards for months.

does anyone have a good sugar free or diabetic recipe.

I used to do Delia, but a few years ago did the Cranks christmas cake recipe, it's foolproof, and delicious.

Any suggestions for an alternative to traditional marzipan and icing. I love it, but the rest of the family, don't.

I suppose you could put nuts and large dried fruit on then glaze it. You could chop up the marzipan, roll it into balls then eat it yourself.

www.tasteandsmile.com/recipe/muscovado-glazed-fruit-cake

It looks good!

Lovely suggestions I think I might stick to Delia but vary the fruit types. I really only use the CC as a vehicle for carrying the brandy I dose it with each week. pompa CHRISTMAS!!! 53 days or something near that I think. xxx

great recipe there rose quartz

I made mine yesterday with the help of DGS. I use my Grandmothers recipe which I also used for our wedding cake 38 years ago . All the traditional fruit but no nuts and no fruit. Never any left by the end of Christmas week.

I also mix it one day and leave it covered with cling film to allow the fruit to swell and cook the next day.

Yes I do that as the blessed Delia taught me- I think the cake is just there as a vehicle for all the booze I put in it pre during and after cooking!

My post should have read ' no nuts and no BOOZE !'

None of us like Christmas cake much despite the fact that Mum made lots every year even when we asked her to stop.

My pudding recipe is a Fanny Craddock recipe that she did on TV in 1970/71 and can be made as late as 4 days before you want to eat it. It's brilliant and even better made well before and allowed to mature!!

Rubysong, my mincepies are from a Home and Freezer Digest Magazine recipe. I have tried to decipher the date but can't. I did love that magazine!!

My MiL makes a wonderful Christmas cake, better than Delia's in my opinion ( I had often made hers). It's Jane Grigson's, and this is the only link to it that I can find.

britishfoodhistory.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/christmas-cake/

Ingredients:

1 ½ lb mixed dried fruit

4 oz of whole roasted almonds

4 oz chopped candied citrus peel

4 oz rinsed glacé cherries quartered or left whole

10 oz plain flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp grated nutmeg

the grated rind of a lemon

8 oz salted butter

8 oz soft dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs black treacle (or molasses)

4 eggs

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tbs warmed milk

brandy

Preheat your oven to 140⁰C (275⁰F).

Begin by mixing all the dried fruit, almonds, candied peel and cherries in a large bowl. Next, sift in the flour, turning in and coating the fruit, then mix in the spices and fresh lemon rind.

Now cream the butter sugar in a separate bowl, then mix in the vanilla and black treacle. Beat in four eggs one by one until incorporated, and the mix in the fruit and the flour. For the final stage, dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the warmed milk, stir it in, and then add enough brandy to slacken the mixture slightly, so that it achieves a dropping consistency – you don’t want a dry cake, now do you?

Line an eight inch cake tin with greaseproof paper and pour the mixture in, hollowing the top a little to compensate for it rising in the oven. Cover with a layer of brown paper to prevent scorching and bake for 3 to 3 ½ hours. Test it after 3 hours with a skewer. When done, leave to cool in its tin overnight. Wrap in greaseproof paper or foil and keep in an airtight container.

Ideally the cake should sit for at least a month to mature, but 2 or 3 weeks is also fine. Whilst it sits, you need to feed it with a sprinkle of 2 or 3 tablespoons of brandy, turning the cake every couple of days or so.

The cake is ready to eat when it has been ‘fed’ for a little while, however, you might want to add a layer of marzipan and royal icing.

I thought I might try it this year, but I'm not sure how much of it would get eaten (apart from by me ).

Oh dear, that's a bit big.

Maybe post it on the Recipes bit JR, then it will always be available!!