My name is Strictly and I'm a Christmas cake virgin

[StrictlyBoogying]

I'm making one for my MIL and have all the fruit, peel, cherries etc and thought I'd do the Delia classic one. Once it's baked, how often am I supposed to add brandy? I'm wondering if I've left it too late.

[murphyslaw]

Its never too late! I fed mine every week for 6 weeks last year by christmas it was dangerous to walk past with a naked flame smelt and tasted wonderful! Youre still fine with weekly feeding for a month.

[bigTillyMint]

I'd say weekly or even slightly more often

[frakkinaround]

I feed mine weekly too. My wedding cake (heavy fruit pound cake) is going to fed a tablespoon every 5 days [evil emoticon] - it was made earlier this week for 19th December.

I think it depends on how fruity you make it as to how alcoholic it turns out. My mother's recipe is a very dark, virtually solid, fruit cake and she feeds it weekly for 6 weeks and it's not that boozy IYSWIM whereas my Christmas cake really soaks up the alcohol into the cake mix cos it's less dense.

[StrictlyBoogying]

So, a tablespoon every 5-7 days? The fruit's all soaking and already smells like Christmas cake. I may even have a slice myself and I'm not really a fan.

[murphyslaw]

depends on how big your cake is ..... I would suggest a good couple of tbsp you can never have too much

[gruber]

I made the Delia 8" round cake last week, gave it a tablespoon of brandy yesterday and it seemed to absorb quite well. Think a tablespoon per week is the way to go.

Have to admit I used the meat thermometer (clean!) to make holes for brandy as we don't have a skewer!!

[frakkinaround]

It also depends on the strength of brandy you use actually and whether you're doing it for the alcohol or the moisture.