Easy christmas cake

Two made, one to go.
It's really not that difficult. I use a sort of combination of Delia and Mary Berry and have quantities for three different sizes. ( I'm an average baker, that's all)
Things to know - add up the weight of all the fruit, then choose your own combination. I always put in more cherries, sultanas and raisins, and less currants and mixed peel. As well as the grated orange and lemon peel I sometimes add some of the juice as well. Occasionally I have used marmalade as small part of the fruit mixture.

MOST IMPORTANT
Soak the fruit in brandy for as long as you like - usually around a week for me.
Then its just a question of making a basic cake mix and combining it with the fruit.
ALSO IMPORTANT
Line tin, put double greaseproof paper on top of mix with a hole in the middle, to prevent browning too quickly. Put a collar of brown paper round tin standing higher than tin, for the same reason.

Another tip, if adding black treacle, pop tin in warm oven for a while, so easy to pour into measure.
I usually make them in October, and should keep feeding them with brandy but usually forget.

I use a Slimming World recipe I was given years ago; it doesn't have any sugar in it; I can post the recipe if you want it.

@chelseababy; The BBC Good Food website has a recipe by Nadiya Hussain called "Christmas white chocolate traybake" made with mincemeat. I made it for my work's Christmas tea-party for several years, and it went down very well.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Oh gosh - Chewbecca and Chewbacca! I didn’t notice the difference either - bit confusing if I may so say!

Yes, the proper smells of Christmas. You don’t get them with a shop-bought cake (or a fake tree, come to that).

James Martin’s Christmas cake is so easy to make and tastes delicious however, having cooked it many times and using various ovens, the timings on the recipe are far too short. From recall it actually takes around 4; hours.. I usually cook it at half term and love the smell of it permeating the house.

Chewbecca I was feeling a bit down and made my xmas cake 9th October (very early but it did lift my spirits a bit) using the recipe you suggested from James Martin as I had all the ingredients except the ground almonds. I did have whole almonds so DH offered to assemble his kit and grind some for me. Unfortunately he ground them ALL so none left to chop as I had anticipated doing. Not sure what it will taste like - certainly easy to make and looks ok though not as risen as I would have thought. Lots of time to feed it now though.

winterwhite

Anyone seen a recipe for a small (not tiny, say 7" tin) Christmas cake? I'm not good at working out proportions of ingredients butter, eggs etc.
I didn't discover shop-bought marzipan till years after everybody else ? and that was a real time-saver. Then just rough up the icing with a knife and stick a candle on the top now that the DD have made off with the robin, the pillar box, the log, the several bent fir trees, the Father Christmas, the bit of broken handbag mirror, the penguin... with which they lovingly decorated the cake for many years.

winterwhite I use the Very Rich Fruit Cake recipe from the Stork recipe book. It sets out the ingredients/timings for cakes of all sizes from 5" round (4" square) right up to 13" round (12" square). It is very simple and despite its name nothing like as heavy and rich the one my parents made which was black with currants. I substitute extra sultanas for the mixed peel now but used to make it as written.

Anyone seen a recipe for a small (not tiny, say 7" tin) Christmas cake? I'm not good at working out proportions of ingredients butter, eggs etc.

winterwhite I often use this - www.deliaonline.com/information-centre/scaling-up-cake-recipes

I've stopped making a rich fruit cake as nobody really likes it except me! So I bake a traditional birthday, vanilla sponge type cake and ice it like a traditional Christmas cake! Goes down quite well, instead of me pigging out and eating the whole thing to myself! I have no willpower when it comes to cake!

Very many years ago I used to make at least six every year for family members. Elaboratedly decorated.
I never ate bought cake.
I found that because of all the rich food over Christmas the cake was still being finished up in February.
Now I don’t like cake at all.

Australian boiled cake is really easy and you could add more alcohol in the first stage of you wished, instead of tea or milk.

www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/recipes/favourite-boiled-fruit-cake-14529

I use a recipe that was in an Asda magazine years ago and found it the best . I leave out the peel etc as I dont like it and it makes no difference to the cake. I have all the ingredients now and I will make it next week when I have finished pickling my onions. The only trouble with the cake this year is that my grandchildren won't be able to stir it and make their Christmas wish.

I’ve started to make a tea loaf, bara brith, a few days before and it is always moist, normally my Christmas cakes have been dry. Nobody complains..

I soak sultanas, glace cherries and walnuts in apple juice for a few days, drain them, and stir into a basic sponge mix. It works well cooked in a round tin, or in loaf tins.

My husband one year to make Christmas Cakes for everyone (he had never made a cake or anything much in his life). It cost an absolute fortune, he made trial cakes then decide mixing was such hard work so purchased a food mixer. By the time they were decorated (left to me to do) decorations bought etc etc plus mucking the kitchen out when he had finished I banned him from ever doing it again and explained that’s what Marks and Spencer are for.

I'm making one in a loaf tin. Not too big and easy to slice. I just like the smell of one cooking It reminds me of home.

Iam64, I was also disappointed in Bettys, hence me making a small cake this year. I bought a bit of marzipan topping and won`t ice it as there is only me. A tiny bit at a time will see me through the whole winter

Jamaican Black cake is good, I'll try to link the Waitrose recipe which is an easier adaptation. If not, it's easy to find.

www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/c/caribbean-black-cake.html

I recently made a mary berry cake, it was the easiest ever. Soaked the fruit in brandy and then it was all in one bowl. Her cake book gives a very good chart for ingedients in all sizes. I made a 6" cake, which reminds me, I want to feed it a bit more brandy today

Anyone seen a recipe for a small (not tiny, say 7" tin) Christmas cake? I'm not good at working out proportions of ingredients butter, eggs etc.
I didn't discover shop-bought marzipan till years after everybody else ? and that was a real time-saver. Then just rough up the icing with a knife and stick a candle on the top now that the DD have made off with the robin, the pillar box, the log, the several bent fir trees, the Father Christmas, the bit of broken handbag mirror, the penguin... with which they lovingly decorated the cake for many years.

I have made Mary Berry’s White Christmas cake for the last two years and it is so tasty and keeps wonderfully moist for ages. You will find it on the internet, sorry I don’t have the link.

I look forward to doing the traditional Christmas baking and really, the cake’s dead easy to make. Lining the tin’s the only faffy bit. But it does work out a lot dearer than a bought one.

I love Delia’s Creole Christmas Cake recipe - you can adapt all the fruit and, in particular, the booze to use whatever you’ve got. It’s very rich though, and the rest of the family prefer a light one. So this year I’m going to try Delia’s last minute recipe, using homemade mincemeat. And drop them off a small one each, as we’re not likely to be celebrating all together.

I’ve made my own candied peel years ago and it was so much better than the usual stuff. I might even try it again this year seeing as I’ve more time on my hands.

My family don't like Christmas cake. So I'm not making one. How easy is that.

Vampirequeen I love that suggestion I think I’ll do that this year.