Christmas Cake - have you cut into yours?

It certainly is a case of trial and error,my oven seems to cook quite quickly.! Then you have to find a favourite recipe! I have frozen half of mine. It's a freezer book recipe anyway but it will be a nice treat in months to come. It was also a bit to moreish ?

August Ladyleftfl ! That is early to make a Christmas cake.
How long to bake a fruit cake seems another problem. Don’t want it to burn on edges or top, but it must be cooked right through. And all our ovens are different.
It’s quite a craft isn’t it?

I made one for the first time! I used a combination of Mary Berry and Canadian Living magazine recipes. I only wanted a small cake since I am the only one that likes it.

It turned out very tasty but a little on the dry side. Others here suggested a soaking with orange juice and rum combined, and I think that helped, and perhaps the centre of the cake is more moist than the end that i have cut. It smells delicious when I open the tin.

I did not ice it, but I think if I do it again next year I will do a bit of marzipan on top.

Even the small cake (loaf size) will last me a good long while since I also have some chocolates to make my way through!

I use Mary Berry’s recipe. There is a table of ingredients for different sizes of tin. It doesn’t take as long to cook as the book suggests but is always moist and delicious.

Bero here as well. All Christmas and Birthday cakes made from this book for years. Also made by Grandma and Mam. Only adaptation I make is to soak fruit for a number of days in Sherry or brandy .

I have made Delia’s Christmas cake recipe every year since I was first married. We love it. I make it in August and feed it regularly with rum. I always cover it in marzipan and Royal icing. Then, the one time of the year it happens, I do intricate trellising on top as I was taught in O-level cookery.

I also remember my Aunt having a McDougall’s (Flour) recipe book too.
I have one of those. Every time I make popovers (little Yorkshire puddings), which I admit is rarely, I have to get it out to remind myself of the recipe.
I don't know why, I remember other recipes.

You could start a trend Whitewave. Too good to waste.

I’ve decided to cut up mine and freeze. So come picnic time in the better weather we will be eating turkey sandwiches and Christmas cake?

I've made a Dundee cake with more cherries than nuts on top this year as we find the marzipan and icing on a traditional Christmas cake too sweet. I used the recipe from my mums old cookery book. It always turn out well.

I was interested to read about your marzipan, Sloegin. I’m not keen on using raw eggs, so bought Tesco Finest pre-prepared marzipan this year. I will try making it without any eggs next time.

I’ll remember Traidcraft Sloegin. A very worthy effort.
My nearest shop with glacé fruits is a Grape Tree and they do not advertise Fair Trade, only organic.

Many of your (welcome) suggestions of how you do your cake reminds me of many old recipe books I’d forgotten about : by Be-Ro, Mrs Beeton, Hamlin All Colour, Dairy Board and Farmhouse Kitchen as well as family ‘heirloom’ recipes.
I also remember my Aunt having a McDougall’s (Flour) recipe book too.
There wasn’t the choice back in the day but there were certainly some inspirational recipes that have stood the test of time.
I think Mary Berry and Delia have come out maybe equal tops on this thread.
Thank you for sharing.

I should have mentioned that I use fair trade dried fruit and sugar from Traidcraft thus helping producers and growers in developing countries. Traidcraft is a Christian based Fair Trade organisation which works with all faiths and none and helps people to help themselves. It's a nice way to do some good whilst indulging ones own family.

I made my Christmas cake from my Grandmothers recipe. It’s been used for wedding cakes and lots of other celebration cakes over the years. I make a large square cake and it gets divided between the family.

We cut into ours last night, it was lovely ( if I say so myself)?
Have always used the Victorian recipe from the Mrs Beeton book.It’s very large and wrapped in foil in a cake tin will last ages and get even better.

DH normally makes one but not this year as it would be just the two of us and we would have no difficulty in eating it (as well as everything else). When we can eventually have the family visiting again we were thinking that a Christmas cake might go down well then, whatever time of whatever year it is!

I have done Delia, Cranks cook book and this year, followed Mary Berry's recipe. The cake is the best ever.
I also made her mincemeat - fabulous. I stopped using suet, used the veg option but didn't like it. MB says use butter, why didn't I think of that?

I haven’t made one yet?. I got all the ingredients so I could make it during Lockdown 2 but somehow never got round to it. Lethargy & general laziness set in. I wonder if I made it during Lockdown 3 which is almost upon us, whether it would mature just in time for next Christmas? ?

I think I chose the wrong shop to buy mine from this year.
If DH says it’s not good, it’s bad! It’s to be shared between the birds in our snowy garden.

Puzzler61, mine was all gone before Christmas (from Waitrose, very nice)!

Thank you Puzzler 61. Yes, the decorations are edible and just made with the almond paste coloured with cake colouring. Incidentally this year I made my almond paste without raw egg, just ground almonds, icing sugar, caster sugar, good quality vanilla essence and enough sherry to bind. Pounded/kneaded well to extract the oil from the almonds. I've been making the same cake for 49 years- didn't make one the first year we were married but every year since. Always seems to turn out OK.

I used the James Martin Make and Mature Christmas Cake this year. The recipe is on bbcgoodfood. It is a rich boiled cake and is just amazing. I’ve tried many Christmas cake recipes over the years and this one is definitely the best.

We cut our cake today. I always use a recipe from the Hamlin All Colour Cookbook. I think it’s a Mary Berry and has never let me down. It was the first cookery book I ever bought.

The brandy soaked fruit from Lidl features in a lot of posts so I shall look out for some.
Bathsheba I like the sound of your soft Royal icing as my teeth are a bit dodgy with crunching.
You could always put another layer on top without the glycerin ?