To make or buy

Do you want a Christmas cake or a yule log, for instance?

My mum used to make all the Christmas cakes and ours never got eaten completely. So, after mum stopped making them, we stopped having one and haven't really missed it.

If you really want one, maybe look at Betty's?

I know what you mean. We’re going to a restaurant Christmas Day so I’m not baking anything this year, we’ll maybe some mince pies and it’s a huge relief not to have to worry about how my cake turns out! I guess it depends how much you want to spend. M & S and Waitrose are good but if you want to have something a bit more special, something like Betty’s tea rooms of Harrogate look nice. Or maybe try a local bakers if you have one.

For me it would depend on how many people will be having Christmas cake. If it's for a group (four people or more) then I'd make one. Less than that, then most likely I'd buy a small one from somewhere reliable like M & S. (There should be plenty of cake reviews online!)

You could buy a plain fruit cake and decorate it yourselves?

I'm very fortunate as my daughter took over the ceremonial "making the cake" many years ago!
And now my granddaughter (6) helps her and indeed decorated it by herself last year 😋

Never make one as I would eat it all!

It has to be a rich fruit cake - icing is optional though as we wouldn't ice our home made ones. Certainly not a yule log either.
It is just the cost of the ingredients and the hike in energy that's putting me off this year.

Bury is nearest to us, has nice bakeries. Perhaps there is a nice bakery in town nearest to you? Good bakery usually have decent desserts.

Maybe buy to avoid faffing with cake?

Love rich cake. Always made my own but last year made a very rich Dundee cake. Put in a lot of whisky- soaked fruit- and marmalade. Lovely . Rich but a little different from Christmas cake . Nuts on top. No marzipan or icing to bother with. Keeps well. Daughter in law makes a Christmas cake so will have a bit of that.

Theres a company online that sells ready made fruitcake in all sizes .My daughter has bought from them over covid times and says they wete good .Its called Sweet Success ,then you can decorateit to suit so yo wont lose out on all the fun

My son makes ours, from my mother’s recipe. Very rich, dark and brandy-soaked. Making it has skipped a generation (me!).

Mr A makes ours. We make a small square one and cut it into two oblongs (plenty for two, but enough to share with a few others). One oblong is iced and decorated for our Christmas cake. He makes rich fruit cake and includes plenty of booze so the other half is wrapped and stored, to be brought out later in the year to be eaten with some nice cheese. I think that's the nice thing about making your own - you can make/cut it to the size you want and store the rest until you want it.

I priced up the cost of buying ingredients to make 2x Christmas cakes including the cooking costs it was around £27.00 so I’ve bought 2 ( much smaller ones) for £5 each and I’ll decorate them at home.
The home made ones would be nicer but would probably last us well into January, so it’s small ones for us, I’ve tasted them and if I ‘feed’ them with Brandy they will be just as nice (almost).

I always make shortbread for friends at Christmas and it would be much cheaper to buy some from M&S, but I know they would be disappointed because they say mine isn't as hard as shop bought. The ingredients and the electric oven will be a fortune this year though.

Stopped making them some years ago - hardly anyone ate it (except the birds).
I still make Christmas puds, though - so much nicer than anything from a shop, and every scrap gets eaten. I made a big one just yesterday - it’s usually two but since it’ll be just me and dh this year….

If you’re going to pay the prices of Bettys you might as well make you’re own. A soft iced one with 4-6 servings comes in at £22. Larger ones are over £30.

In the past I always made my own. We do like them but with everything around at that time of year they ended up getting left and being too big a temptation when clothes started straining! Occasionally I cut into slices and froze for a rainy day.

In recent years I’ve bought a ready made one and fed and iced it myself. I’ve also bought one of the kits that include most of the ingredients to bake yourself. I think it was eggs and butter you added.

This year I have a jar of mincemeat leftover and am going to attempt to make Mary Berry’s mincemeat cake.

Ours is made and will last Mr L until the end of January. I don't ice it but do put a nut topping on. He likes to have a fruit cake in the cupboard all year round for 'emergency' snacks!

Grandmadinosaur the mincemeat cake is lovely.

I used to make a mince meat cake from my mother-in-law's recipe. It was good but not really the same as Christmas cake. I'm not bothering with a Christmas cake this year as it only gets left. I might buy a small iced one from Lidl as dh likes the marzipan. I doubt anyone else will eat it. I hate spending a lot of money on Christmas food that goes uneaten. By teatime on Christmas Day most people seem to be longing for a salad in our house!

That’s good to know lixy thank you.

I haven’t made one for years. I look for reviews in Good Housekeeping magazine etc and choose one of the best ones. Suits us fine.

Oh I did love a piece of home made and matured christmas cake, after christmas when snow was on the ground and with a nice hot cup of tea. Personally I would only have a home made cake but sadly it takes too long to take the weight off me. No cake in my house now

I think it depends on whether or not you enjoy the process. If you don't look forward to it then buy. If it is just the cost putting you off then think of it as spending on a hobby that you enjoy. It is a lot less expensive than playing golf!

Mr Springy awaits cake making day eagerly every year and I don't think I could deprive him, regardless of the cost. He'll 'nom nom' his way through it singlehandedly and by the end of January, it will be gone. I make cake all year around so always have the ingredients to hand. If we have to economise in the future, I think he'd settle for a lighter homemade cake.

I've been watching the electricity costs and on the days I make a roast, the usage rises by about 60p. I expect cooking cost for the cake are similar.

I've never actually made my own xmas cake, even though I do enjoy baking. I did consider doing it this year, but like Oopsadaisy1 has said, when you tot up the cost of all the ingredients alone, it works out far more expensive. For the past few years, I've bought one from Aldi and it's been really nice for the price.

karmalady I’m picturing the scene now and it’s made me want a home made, whisky soaked, deeply marzipan(ed) Christmas cake with slightly- crunchy- yet -squidgy icing with a robin on top