I am going to make my first Christmas cake in years this year, hopefully this weekend and I don't know which one to make... I've heard good things about Delia's creole and Mary Berry's traditional one, but I also saw one on This Morning which claimed to be the best ever!
I recommend Nancy Birtwhistle's recipe (bake off winner), it's on her Instagram and on her website. Nice and easy and deliciously moist. A winner for me!
Delia is brill. Her basic recipe is so nice and reassuring, in time people adjust a little (we add quite a few chopped dates), but for a first time it's perfect. Written well and easy to follow.
Could not pick my finger in it but We all preferred Delia’s. I suspect we are just a traditional bunch who don’t like change Delia’s classic only requires brandy not 6 types of booze (although that sounds like a hangover cake).
I've bought the ingredients for the Nancy Birtwhistle one and have just put my fruit in a bowl to soak in booze and fruit juice! Will make the actual cake tomorrow.
Nigella’s traditional Christmas cake (in Feast and Domestic Goddess) is the one I use - it doesn’t have any nuts in, though does include almond essence. But if you wanted nuts, you could easily play about with the proportions of dried fruit and incorporate some. It’s very easy and really moist, keeps well for ages.
So, I finally made the cake (yesterday). Fecking disaster lads. Fecking disaster.
It takes 10 hours to cook. About 8 hours into cooking time, DH pointed out that my toddler had somehow put the child lock on the oven (ironic), which turns the fecking thing off . Obviously, I had no idea when toddler did this, so I had no idea how long the cake had actually been cooking!
So I turned it back on for the rest of the time and an hour or two more. I wasn't sure if it was cooked, so I left it to cool in the still warm oven. I'm sure it's cooked now, but hopefully not dried out... I'm going to feed it plenty of booze over the next month anyway. That might help.
I also forgot to buy most of the spices, so only had mace and ginger.
Hmmm... we shall see how it turns out. Dd has grand plans for the decoration and marzipan makes everything taste better.
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. Obviously, I had no idea when toddler did this, so I had no idea how long the cake had actually been cooking! 
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