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 do Delia’s as well - it’s infallible.

I normally make 6 but they’re not big ones and I use 3 fruit loaf tins and then cut them in half to make 6. We keep 2 and the other 4 are given away. I don’t think my mum would forgive me if I didn’t make her Christmas cake.

We keep 2 (1each). I use to make a bigger one for us but my husband would eat it so quickly and I’d barely get a couple of slices so now we have a little one each and once his is gone, he’s not allowed to touch mine!

I use a recipe called Aunty Milly’s New Zealand Christmas cake which a colleague gave me about 25 years ago. It’s a traditional cake but made in a saucepan and is really easy. I put lots of brandy in when making it but don’t feed it and yet it’s always lovely.

I’ll wait a couple of weeks yet before I make them.

Lego You can soak the fruit in tea to give the cake the right moisture. I sometimes add a bit of orange juice to the tea. Use it warm and the heat will plump the fruit up really nicely. And if you pre-soak you don't need to feed it. I never feed my cake, the raw booze is too much for my 10yo!

Also, I can really recommend investing in those Boyajian citrus oils,the orange and lemon add an amazing extra dimension to a Christmas cake.

I'll be making mine soon and will pre-soak in something like Madeira or port, as well as tea and juice. YUM!

I love making it. I use amaretto not brandy, and swap out cherries and fruit peel for other side fruit.

However no one eats the damn thing! I didn't make one last year, I bought a very small Lidl cake, ready iced and it's still in the cupboard.

That's my fear Artemis - will have to take one for the team and eat at least half of it myself. It's a hard life

DP makes ours since he's the native. He uses the recipe he learned a boarding school. He went on a December cookery course with his fellow boarders because ... it was at the girls' school nearby!

I'm always tempted to try the Delia cake, but I've made them for over 40 years using an old Readers Digest Christmas recipe ... I'm worried about risking something new now!!

I used to make three or four. One for my family, and one for a friend who has a very severe nut allergy (very difficult to do!) and one for a friend who is gluten free (also difficult but not as bad as the nut one as their allergy is not as bad). I also did one for my godmother and her family.

I do a sort of recipe, which means I found one years ago, God knows where, and edited it. It balances out. I've been asked for the recipe loads of times and everyone looks when I say I don't really have one. It tastes ok, no ones had food poisoning or died as far as I know they take hours to make and cook though and it's no little task. I do my own marzipan and icing and decorating as well. I made one when I lived with my family one year and they were shocked at how long it took to do as I make them at least six weeks before Christmas and then use a skewer and feed them with rum or brandy for four weeks and then marzipan and decorate a week after that.

When I did cooking at school it was taught by a science teacher who preferred to teach us how everything interacted and to use recipes as a guide rather than something to really stick to. At the time we all thought she was mad but it's actually really been useful over the years!

I make mine the last weekend in November using a Mary Berry recipe. I also take an annual photo of my children stirring the mixture & have got every picture framed in a row on my kitchen wall!!

You won’t regret trying Delia’s recipe. I use her classic one but the Creole cake gets good reviews if you want to use other kinds of booze.

I usually stick with Brandy but I’m wondering if I could get good results from chucking in some of Dh’s Sailor Jerry’s 🤔

Oooh, we've made Discussions of the Day!!

In early Dec I make Delia’s Irish Whisky one every year, even though I am in the US and people here HATE fruit cake. Those that have been brave enough to try mine have come back for seconds. 😬. Then I start on the mince pies. I have to make eleventy billion of them as I give them as gifts and get asked for them every year.

Nigella and half term here

I make many, many Christmas Cakes - most of them are very small (200+ of 2inch cubes) of those (colleagues of mine and various family members); and a variety of other sizes.

We adore fruit cake. We do, of course, prefer it with cheese.

I can't make one small enough so I buy a small slab from M and S. Only OH ikes Chistmas cake.

Did this one last year - amazing!

www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/perfect-christmas-cake-recipe/

DH is soaking his fruit right now (so to speak!) - also Delia's recipe.

I can't stand the stuff, but both sets of parents will take more than their fair share a slice, so it doesn't tend to last more than Christmas week.

Yes another Delia fan here. Mine's made ( make 3/4) a year. Going to use her recipe for Christmas Pudding this year, just need to finish off the shopping for it. Contemplating cooking it in the slow cooker.

Oh I've been thinking it's nearly time. I can't wait to get baking lol I make 8 and puddings. Most are Christmas gifts which are very well received.
I use stork margerine recipe. I must have the leaflet 20 years or more lol
I will check out some of your recipes for inspiration

I didn't realise people made Christmas cake so early. In the days when I used to make one I made it in October.

The last couple of times I made one I ended up throwing the rest of it away in February.

I'm sitting here thinking of all the fruit cakes I adore. Dundee Cake; Black Caribbean Cake; Black Bun; panforte; Tea loaf.

Not that fond of mince pies (tho' I like mincemeat). In my family we always had Coventry Godcakes rather than mince pies. Still pastry and mincemeat but we preferred them. :)

Yes I always make one as well OP - I use Mary Berry's recipe. I usually titivate as well as PPs, she puts almonds in hers as is traditional, but I usually use pecans as they're not as hard. I put chopped up prunes in too, and sometimes if I'm feeling extra adventurous I use different booze as well. I always do soft royal icing and make it into massive peaks like a big snow scene, with Father Christmas' sleigh/reindeer etc. It's one of my favourite things to make, I love the tradition of it.

I did find it expensive to make last year though, even with getting most of the fruit from Aldi. I might do a smaller one this time.

Anyway. Sloe gin, murder mystery book and massive slice of Christmas cake = one of the best bits of Christmas, as far as I'm concerned.

I make mine during October half term and use a bbc good food recipe because I hate mixed peel and this was (at the time) one of the few recipes that didn't require it. It's also quite cheap (if you limit the amount of brandy you use) which suits my budget.
I love making my own cake, the entire house smells of Christmas!

I make an absolutely massive one to my gran's recipe. My whole family like it - including the kids - I didn't realise so many people supposedly dislike it!