Has everyone already made their Christmas cake?

Nooooooo and never have made one
Well done you, not over keen myself

Not yet, but I use an Australian recipe for a beautifully moist, pineapple laden, boiled fruit cake, to which I shall add extras.
Probably next week.

Yes and it's already finished the end of a bottle of brandy. Only a small 7" one as everyone is on a diet.

I don’t make them now. No-one likes it but me. DH was always Officer in Charge of Christmas cakes in this house. He used a James Martin recipe and they were always delicious. He would nurse them through to Christmas, infusing them with brandy until you would reel from the fumes!!

I have decided not to make a cake this year, although I had planned a half size one.

We have just moved house and are only camping in it at the moment while work and decorating takes place, so all my Christmas recipe cards plus baking tins are in store until mid December. I will then belatedly make the mincemeat, Christmas pudding and brandy butter, but the cake is just a step too far, because, while the making doesn't take long , the decorating of it does.

I haven`t made one since 2014 but got the urge yesterday, Dds were saying that they felt like making a Christmas cake this year and that gave me the mojo, nothing like a brandy infused Delia cake during the winter months, particularly on a snowy day, with a nice cup of tea

So I am set to go, most ingredients were already in my stores, then a quick walk to the shops for the remainder and everything is now prepped, even the tin. I will be taking the cling film off the dried fruits soon and will delight in the gorgeous smell which will waft through my kitchen today

It will bring back memories

I have made mine but dropped it when I took it out of the oven!!! Have squashed it together and poured sherry over it. It doesn’t look too bad but needs marzipan.

Made mine last week. I make a smaller one these days and don’t use any booze. We just enjoy a cake full of fruit. The recipe is from my Grandmother’s Good Housekeeping book and has been used for Christmas and many important occasions for at least the last 70/80 years.

I have never made a Christmas cake or a Christmas pudding as no one in my family likes very rich fruit cakes. I might buy one of M&S’s Dundee cakes and I will use my much missed SIL’s recipe to make a clootie dumpling for New year.

No - I always make it on stir-up Sunday.

The puddings, mincemeat and chutney are made earlier plus this years crop of small onions pickled, in order to mature.

Yes! Woozy with brandy!

Yes two smaller ones this year, still 8” round.
I’ve also bastardised the recipe as I’ve gone along, really looking forward to taste test too!

I’m another who hasn’t made one for many years. I always used to use the recipe from our Domestic Science lessons at school for both cake and puddings which were always well received by the large number of extended family members who filled our home.

Nowadays the few of us who are still around don’t care for rich fruit cake or pudding so I don’t bother.

Mary Berry has a Christmas cake calculator for different cake tins, I used it this year and it's just the ticket.

www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/food-interactive-christmas-cake-calculator

grandMattie

Not yet, but I use an Australian recipe for a beautifully moist, pineapple laden, boiled fruit cake, to which I shall add extras.
Probably next week.

I would love the recipe!

Nope, not yet though usually I make it in the October half term.
Why not yet? I didn’t have any brandy so asked DS if he had any spirit he didn’t like much that I could use. ‘Yep, lots’ he said, but it has yet to appear. Guess he’s sampling just to make sure first.

teazel2 Delia’s Christmas book has a light glance fruit recipe that includes pineapple, but gMattie’s sounds interesting.

When IS stir-up Sunday Whitewave? For some reason I thought it was in September. Anyway I made mine yesterday but my mixer broke half way through.
It's turned out well all the same.

Just made my cake yesterday. I use the Becky Excell GF recipe and it is delicious. It is a bit of a palaver though wrapping it in two layers of grease proof paper and two layers of tin foil. Pudding follows today so will be pudding sitting for the next 6 1/2 hours.

Half my family can't eat Christmas cake and the other half don't like them. We haven't had one for years.

Canadian gran I wouldn’t have a clue because I have never made a Christmas cake or pudding. There was one occasion when I had a go at mince pies though but havd no idea about dates but as it’s weeks to Christmas imagine you have plenty of time to make your cake ( but what do I know)

Ex dancer I Havnt heard the archers mention stir up Sunday yet, so there must be time.

I have fond memories of my DGM making Christmas cakes and I quite liked the smell, but I’ve never made one - can’t stand dried fruit in anything.
Stir-up Sunday is Nov 23rd this year.

Every Boxing Day when I was young, my grandmother would make her Christmas cake and pudding for the next year! As she used to prod them with a knitting needle and dose them with brandy throughout the year, I dread to think how we weren’t all completely sozzled! They were delicious though!

When it comes to boozy cakes, it’d be hard to beat Delia’s Creole recipe, which I use every year. It doesn’t need maturing, so I usually start it a month before. I mix and match the booze, depending on what I need to use up.