Christmas cake anyone?

[ContessasGulagSpaDay]

I'm making mine as we speak (vegan version of Delia Smith's one) and the brandy fumes are rendering me a little giddy!!

Who else makes their own? I was wondering if it was a dying tradition but DH thinks it's fairly common. Answers on a postcard please?

I'm not even sorry about posting this in September, my cake needs the frequent brandy baths maturation time

I usually make several, I have a family recipe and I make enough to give to neighbours as gifts etc. I love it, feels very traditional.

I make one too. Not till a bit later though! Think I'm unusual in my small social circle! Use Mary Berry recipe.

I'll be making mine in half term week. I usually try and save the last few slices for our ski trip in Feb.

Oh that's a lovely thought katmarie! It's never occured to me although I am making this one now so it's ready in time for our Christmas party with friends, so maybe that's my social interaction sorted....

I do a Delia, as is traditional. I make it on the nearest w/end to Guy Fawkes, and feed it with brandy until xmas.
I always post a photo of the mix on Facebook to invite all my friends all over the world to have a stir and make a wish.
My poor husband is the only person who eats the stuff, so he'll be enjoying it into February!

My fruit is going in to soak tomorrow - the secret of a good cake imo is steeping the dried fruit in a lot of good quality booze for a long time so the cake is moist from the inside out

I was going to do it this weekend but my asthma has decided to come a'knocking so will do it next weekend instead.

I make one at some point over the winter. Either Nigella’s chocolate fruit cake or the hot toddy fruit cake from BBC Good Food. Neither needs more than a day or 2 to mature.

I made the first one last weekend and still have another 3 to make which I'll do over the next few weekends. I love the smell of Christmas cakes cooking!

Yes! Love making a Christmas cake! I also use Delia's recipe but I use only whisky.
I'm feeling very christmassy right now!

Never made one... tempted to buy one of the M&S wedding cake bricks though and scoff the lot by myself as I love fruitcake with marzipan and icing...

I make one, using a Good Housekeeping recipe that I've been using for 36 years (and the recipe's a lot older than that!).

My tradition, since my kids were school age, is to make it during the school holidays (so, mid-October). I play Christmas music while I'm doing it, which drives DH mad, but he eats most of it, so that's tough!

The cake is 9.5" square and usually lasts until March!

MIL always made one, using Delia's recipe, until she just physically couldn't any more, at the age of 88. Hope I'm doing the same!

I make a massive square one end Oct/early Nov - Delia’s recipe.

I’ll cut off a fifth and give it to my mum once it’s iced and marzipanned.

....the thing I love about a square cake is that it’s much easier to cut small slices.

I've got four to make this year!

I made my first one a couple of weeks ago. I usually make 3, at different times, and normally Delia's classic or creole or Nigella's chocolate fruit cake. I use the same wet and dry proportions but titivate, i.e. add blueberries or cranberries, chopped apricots, pecans, maybe different alcohol, that sort of thing. With the chocolate fruit cake you need Tia Maria, so I don't change that. I've made a lot of cakes over the years, and I think I've got a bit bolder, or cockier that they'll turn out okay if I fiddle! 😁. I've got a "holiday bundt tin, which is a circle of Christmas trees with a train running round the bottom which I sometimes use. The cakes have turned out quite well, as there's a hole in the middle and they cook nicely. Whenever I make Christmas cakes, I always cook them on low and for a lot longer.

Made mine this morning! I'll have to make a non alcoholic one nearer Christmas too. And I've made mincemeat! Feeling rather smug. Especially as it's 30degrees here today.

I haven’t made one for a few years but I’m going to this year. I use a Mary Berry recipe that came in a pack of dried fruit from Tesco years ago. We’ll still be eating it in February.

Nice to see so many - and loads of you make several! Impressed.

I use a recipe from a Delia Smith book (Complete Cookery Course), published in 1983 - I inherited it from a past housemate who left it when she moved out and couldn't be bothered to reclaim it. I use exactly 1 recipe, this recipe, each year, as Delia is not renowned for her vegan options this is just the best one for optimum fruit, brandy and treacle use though (IMO)!

This will be my first year making my own. I’ll be trying a recipe by Gizzi Erskine that she admits is the Nigella chocolate fruit cake recipe just slightly tweaked. I’ll also be making a gingerbread latte cake for the fussies that don’t like fruit cake (weirdos )

I make mine, and the pudding and mincemeat, usually at the start of October. I do one of each for my dad and his wife too. Always Delia's!

Christmas cake is the best cake in the whole world, I am very much a cake lover. My DH is a recovering alcoholic and he's just nearly 12 months sober. I didn't make a cake last year.

Can anyone recommend a recipe without alcohol? And will it ever taste as good? Should I do a small individual one for him and a big booze filled one for me and the rest of the family?

I love making Christmas cake. I will make one this year as well. Maternity leave starts at the beginning of October for me so I will do it in the first week probably while I wait for baby to arrive!

Oh yes, definitely Delia, doesn't everyone?

I’ll be making a couple next month, but I also have one left over from last year which I have now been feeding for 12 months. It smells amazing- let’s hope it tastes amazing too! It not, I’ll have my newly-baked back ups...