How was your Christmas cake?

Some beautiful cakes on display! Do you make your little figures out of marzipan, or are they bought decorations?

I've never made (or bought) a christmas cake before (in 35 years of marriage) - always do cheesecakes and chocolate logs / buy Stollen but for some reason I did this year, using a WI recipe I fancied. Iced with thin marzipan & fondant to make it look pretty. We managed to find room to sample it at teatime on Christmas day & I was really pleased . Only problem, I may have to do one next year now....

I opened a cake tin in December and there was a fruit cake! I can't remember making it so it has certainly been there a year. It looked OK so I put on the marzipan and icing and it was delicious. I always use a recipe from a very old 'Freezer Digest' magazine and dose it with brandy while it is warm, then I wrap in greaseproof and foil and leave it alone. I think I'll make one soon for next year.

My go to recipe is Jane Grigson's. I can only find small packets of raisins here in France so I chop up dried figs and apricots and also dried cranberries to substitute for sultanas and currants. Works just as well. No icing or marzipan - just a bit too sweet.

I’ve never been keen on Mary Berry. She’s no St Delia.

I’m digressing, but I’ve just fallen out with Mary Berry. I tried her rich chocolate mousse recipe today and foolishly divided it between six dishes of fruit before tasting it. It was foul - I’ve had to dig it all out and mix some sugar and cream in to make it palatable. It’s still not good, and now very messy. MB recommended it for a family lunch for all ages. Because what all children love is a pudding made with bitter chocolate, brandy, and no sugar.

A dead rat!!! Love it!

Untouched as yet but my usual Mary Berry one so should be O.K. I decided to decorate it like a photo in a book with the soft icing and make a mouse that had eaten into the side of it. We were expecting family and GD, they couldn't make it, good job my icing modelling is not what it was and it looked like a dead rat according to DH so I took it off.
Pudding Mary Berry again and better than usual for some unknown reason.

Made mine using Delia recipe in 2020 then never got used so wrapped it up and ate it this year. A bit dry so removed the marzipan and icing warmed and eaten with custard. Lovely.

Our Lidl one was delicious, at least as good as any I have ever made myself.

Mine is lovely, maybe just a tad less cooking would have been better but was the first time in this current oven. Flavour is lovely and rich and lingers on the palate for a while after eating.
I've been using this recipe for 50 years and it has never disappointed. I make it around the first week of November after soaking the fruit liberally for up to a week in brandy. Don't bother to ice it any more as time usually runs out and everyone just picks off the icing and throws it out.

They were yummy and all the kids at home loved it!

I bought a “ cake in a box “ as my son called ! It was an M&S cake mix that you make yourself ! I exchanged the butter for margarine , I was very surprised at how well it turned out ! In the past when I’ve tried to make a Christmas cake the fruit would sink to the bottom !

It’s lovely. I have used the same recipe since the 70s out of a Sainsbury’s Christmas recipes paperback by Jocelyn Dimbleby.

Yes started ours and it was oozing brandy as I dished it out liberally to keep it happy. My dh said it was the best he had tasted so that pleased me. I always make mine with almonds all over the top in case I decide not to ice it.

It didn’t ????

Here’s mine. It travelled to Derbyshire and two thirds came home with me. BBC Food JamesMartin recipe as I have lost the old family one. Everyone liked it. On preview it is sideways! Fingers crossed it posts ok.

Our cake is fine - my mum's boiled fruit cake recipe - but the icing is like concrete. Nonetheless, it goes down well with a nice piece of mature cheddar.

Yes my decoration was a holly sprig. Somewhere in a safe place I’d the snowman and trees that used to decorate the tree when the children were small (30 years ago, maybe I fend shwed it)

Not the Mary Berry recipe though, I used my favourite recipe that I got from a night class years ago.

Iam64

Mary Berry - fabulous cake. I did marzipan and ice the top - just because it’s Christmas

Me too. I eat the marzipan but remove the icing, but I like to make it look nice for Christmas. I did a plain white top and sides and little sugar holly sprigs around the edge. Simple but festive.

I used to make mine, but buy one as I no longer eat it. I did make an olive oil chocolate cake but left out the sugar, sandwiched together with cream and mascarpone cheese and added some berries. Lovely!

Mary Berry - fabulous cake. I did marzipan and ice the top - just because it’s Christmas

Gorgeous Christmas cake! I make mine using my MIL's family recipe. It is over 100 years old. Cant't beat it, IMO.

I didn't make one . After many years of trying and failing to make a good Christmas cake, I gave up.
I'm not fond of any sort of cake, so that is perhaps why I am unsuccessful.
I have a sister in law who is a wonderful baker and she usually provides a small cake for DH.