Christmas cake

Thanks notspaghetti. I do make one every year and cheat on the fruit, as I don’t like peel. But this for sure I’ve over compensated.

I would head straight for M & S.

dogsmother - you can't* have ^too much fruit!
Mine is all fruit - basically glued together with butter, eggs and a little flour.

It is delicious.

Cherylg, my advice is to double check your fruit for stray stalks and to give it all a wash. This will rinse off any grit/dirt and also some of the oil which is generally coating the dried fruit these days.

I use the best butter, the best fruit and the best eggs I can.
Unlike others I don't soak the fruit in alcohol - all my alcohol goes in after cooking. It is never dry - maybe that's all the butter in it!
Mine bake very slowly. 6 hours or more (depending on size). The recipe I use makes a lot of cake.

I’ve done mine and sadly it’s got * me anxious as I know I messed up the weights and have far too much fruit in it 🤷‍♀️
It’s cooked up okay but not certain it will taste so good.

Lots of good tips here; definitely soak the fruit, line the tin well so as to avoid burning around the sides, definitely use real butter, add a little brandy (or other alcohol) and feed it every couple of weeks. However don’t overfeed it as I made mine too sticky by doing that one year.
I haven’t made one this year as we’re going to New Zealand for several weeks over Christmas and it’s too heavy to take with us.

Yes, soaking the fruit really helps. It plumps the fruit up and adds flavour. Also, following a good recipe, eg Delia Smith, Mary Berry, Good Housekeeping are examples. Use fresh ingredients.
Give it time to mature - so making it now is definitely a good idea, then feed it with extra booze (brandy, whisky etc - whatever you prefer) every week until Christmas.
Wrap well in grease proof paper and foil and store in an airtight container.
If you follow these instructions, it will be delicious.

I agree with you there notgran I’ve sliced it up and frozen mine previously. Saying that though it still seems to be calling me from the freezer!

I never buy or make Christmas Cake. I am the only one in the Family that likes/loves it. Consequently previous years I have actually, between Christmas and the first week of January eaten an entire cake, so now don't have it in the house. I occasionally will buy a slice to eat with a coffee in a cafe but try to avoid it. It's like a drug!

Yes as Grandmadinosaur says feed your cake. I've not made a cake for a few years but I always did this.

Make sure to feed the cake every couple of weeks with alcohol of some kind. Makes for a nice moist cake.

Use real butter and very fresh eggs.